Urfin Jus and his Wooden Soldiers
by OakheadLord
Summary: This is a translation of a Russian sequel to the Wizard of Oz, written by A. Volkov. What if The Wicked Witch of the West had an apprentice? Rated T for future chapters.
1. Chapter 1

Hey everyone!

This is my first fan fiction story. Well, technically it's not MY story, I'm just translating a sequel to the Wizard of OZ. It is written by Alexander Volkov. But the wording is mine. I would HIGHLY recommend reading the wizard of oz first. And remember, this is a sequel to the Volkov version of the wizard of oz, so there are some differences between the original version. Well, enjoy and review please!

THE LONELY CARPENTER

To the south east of the Land of Oz lived the Munchkins - shy and cute little people, where there men were no higher than an 8 year old from those places, where people don't know about magic.

The ruler of Blue Land, where the Munchkins lived, used to be the Wicked Witch of the East, a cruel witch indeed, who lived in a deep dark cave, to which the Munchkins were afraid to come to. But, amongst them,there was a man, who built a house not far from the sorceresses cave. It was Urfin Jus. From his kind people Urfin was different even in childhood because of his shrewish character. He rarely played with other kids, and if he did, then he wanted everyone to listen to him and then the game usually ended up as a fight. Urfin's parents died early, and a carpenter, adopted the boy. Growing, Urfin became more and more disagreeable, and when he finished learning about carpentry, he left his teacher, without even thanking him. But his kind teacher gave him tools so Urfin could get started.

Urfin became a skilled carpenter, he made tables, benches, farming tools, and more. But the disagreeable and shrewish character of the maker was passed to his creations. The shovels made by him hit their owner on the forehead, the rakes tried to trip him.

Urfin Jus lost all his customers.

He started to make toys. But the rabbits, bears, and deer that he carved had such scary faces that children, after looking at them, cried all night. The toys were kept in Urfin's attic , nobody bought them.

Urfin Jus got angry, stopped making things, and stopped going to the village. He started to live off the fruits and vegetables of his garden.

Urfin Jus hated his people so much, that he tried not to look anything like them. Munchkins lived in round blue houses with pointed roofs and silver bells on the roof. Urfin built a rectangular house, painted it brown, and put a statue of an eagle on top.

Munchkins had blue clothes, and Urfin's clothes were green. Munchkins had hats with pointed tops and wide bottoms, and little silver bells hang from the bottom. Urfin Jus couldn't stand the sound of little bells and wore a hat without them. Munchkins cried a lot, and in the grim eyes of Urfin there was never seen a tear.

Munchkins got their name because their jaws were always moving, like they were chewing. Urfin used to have that habit as well. But, with great effort, he got rid of it.

He would stand by the mirror for hours,and when his jaws started to move, he would force them to stop.

This man had a very strong will, but he used it for evil, instead of good.

A few years past. Once Urfin came to the Wicked Witch of the East and asked the old sorceress to take him as her apprentice. The witch was very happy: for a century, no Munchkin wanted to serve her, they only carried out her orders because they feared her. Now she has an assistant, who did what she told him to do through his free will. The grim carpenter really liked to tax the people - some number of snakes, mice, frogs, leeches, and spiders.

Munchkins were really afraid of snakes, spiders, and leeches. When they were ordered to collect them, they started to cry. Urfin looked at their tears and laughed cruelly. Then on a certain day he came over with a giant baskets, collected the tax, and carried it to the witch's cave. There the tax was either eaten, either was used for dark magic.

The day Dorothy's house crushed the Witch of the East, Urfin wasn't near the witch: he went to a distant part of Blue land to do some business. When Urfin heard about her death, he was both glum and happy. He was glum that he lost a powerful teacher, and happy that he could use her magic.

There wasn't anyone near the cave, Dorothy and Toto were on there way to Emerald City.

Urfin thought about moving into the cave and calling himself the heir of the witch and the new ruler of Blue Land - he new that the shy Munchkins wouldn't try to neglect that.

But the cave looked so dim, with all those fried mice and crocodile heads and other stuff used for magic, that even Urfin got a chill down his spine.

"Brr", he mumbled. "Live in this graveyard? No, thank you."

Urfin started to look for the silver shoes, he knew that the witch treasured them the most. But he uselessly looked throughout the cave, the shoes weren't there.

A mocking "hoot - hoot - hoot!" was heard in the cave and Urfin flinched,

From above the eyes of an owl were watching, glowing yellow in the dimness of the cave.

"Is that you Guam?"

"Not Guam, Guamokolatokint", said the owl shrewishly.

"Were are the other owls now?"

"Flew off."

"Why didn't you go, to?"

"And what do you think I'll be doing there? Catch mice, like other owls? I am to old and wise for that job.

Urfin got a sly idea.

"Hey Guam"... The owl was quiet... "Guamoko"... Silence... "Guamokolatokint!"

"I'm listening" replied the owl.

"Want to live with me? I'll feed you mice and birds"

"For what?" said the owl.

"When people see that you are with me will think I'm a wizard."

"That's not a bad idea", said the owl, "And to begin my service, I'll tell you that you are searching for the silver shoes in vain, some creature of an unknown to me breed took them."

Looking at Urfin the owl asked:

"When will you start eating frogs and leeches?"

"What?" cried Urfin. Eat frogs? What for?"

"Because that food is for evil witches and wizards. Remember, how the Witch of the East ate them?"

Urfin remembered and flinched: the food of the old witch always disgusted him, he always had an excuse to go out of the cave during her meal.

"Listen Guamokolatokint", said Urfin, "can,t I become an evil wizard without that?"

"I told you what to do, and now you do it."

Urfin, with a sigh, picked up some stuff for magic, put the owl on his shoulder, and went home.

When he got back, he started to live in his house, not meeting with other people, not loving anyone, not being loved by anyone.


	2. Chapter 2

_PART 1 THE MAGIC POWDER_

THE PECULIAR PLANT

Once, during the night, there was a powerful storm. The Munchkins thought that it was summoned by Urfin Jus, so they crouched, and waited for their houses to fall.

But nothing like that happened. Instead, when Urfin went to his garden, he saw some little young strange weeds with his cabbages. They were likely brought there by the storm, but it was never found out where they came from.

"I weeded the garden a few days ago", mumbled Urfin, "and those weeds are up again. Oh well, I'll weed the garden in the afternoon."

Urfin went to the forest, where he had some traps for animals, and spent his entire day there. He brought a frying pan and oil with him, fried a fat bunny, and ate him.

When Urfin got home, he was surprised to see that all over the cabbage part of the farm there were bright green plants the size of a person with spiky thick leaves and stems.

"Whoa", cried Urfin, "those weeds didn't waste their time!"

He came over to a plant and tried to yank it out with the root. But the plant didn't move, and Urfin got a handful of splinters that covered the leaves and stem.

He got angry, pulled out the splinters, put on leather gloves, and tried to pull out a weed, but he wasn't strong enough. Then he armed himself with an ax and started to chop down the plants under the root.

The ax chopped into the stems of the plants, and they fell to the ground.

When the job was done, Urfin went to bed.

Next morning, he went out, and he was stunned to see that on the cabbage part of the farm where the roots of the plants were left, and on the trail where he took the stems of the weeds there towered those plants with spiky aqua stems and leaves.

"Oh, so you are going to fight like that!" yelled Urfin and ran in to battle.

The chopped down stems and dug up roots he chopped up into tiny pieces on the stump he cut up firewood.

Behind the garden and in front of the forest there was a plain. That's where Urfin took the pieces and threw them all over the plain.

The job took all day, and when it was finished, the tired Urfin Jus went to bed. He didn't sleep well though: he was tortured by nightmares, he dreamed that the plants where surrounding him, trying to prickle them with his spines.

When he woke up, the ex – carpenter first went to the plain, to see what happened. When he opened the gate, he was very surprised at what he saw. The life force of the plant was unbelievable. The unfertilized land was covered in weeds

When Urfin was throwing the cut up plants, the pieces landed on the fence and trees, the pieces grew roots there and there were little plants growing out of the fence and trees. Surprised by the plants' power, he threw of one of his boots. The soles were covered in tiny sprouts. The sprouts were also looking out of his clothes. Urfin ran to the storeroom: the handle of the ax was covered in young weeds.

Urfin sat on the doorstep and started thinking. What should do he do? Go away from here and go to another place? But it's sad to abandon such a fine house, garden.

Urfin went to the owl. He was sitting on a pole with squinted eyes because of the daylight. Jus told him about his trouble. The owl nodded sat on the pole for a while, thinking.

"Try to bake them in the sun", he advised.

Urfin chopped up some a stem and put them on an iron sheet with lifted edges and put them in an open sunny field.

"Let's see if you grow here", Urfin mumbled, "Because if you do, I'll leave this place".

The plant didn't grow. The roots didn't have enough power to go through the iron. After some hours, the hot sun turned the green mass into a brown powder.

"Turns out that I don't feed Guamoko for free", said Urfin gladly, "He is a wise bird".

Getting his cart, Jus went out to collect all the baking sheets on which you cook cookies. He returned with a cart full of them.

Urfin shook a fist at the weeds.

"Now I'll deal with you", he hissed through his teeth.

The back-breaking work started. Urfin wasn't idle from morning to night, and during the day only made short rests.

He acted very carefully. Choosing a small field, he cleaned it completely from the plants, checking the field multiple times, not leaving even the smallest part. The dug up plants he put on metal baking sheets, arranging them in nice rows on a sunny spot. He dumped the brown powder into metal buckets and covered them with metal lids. The carpenter didn't show the enemy any mercy to the enemy.

The area that the plants covered shrank every day. And finally, after days of work, the moment arrived when the last plant turned to powder.

That week of work left Urfin so exhausted, that he could hardly stand up.

Walking up the stairs, Urfin tripped, and some of the powder on the bearskin that lay over by the door instead of a carpet.

The carpenter didn't notice that; he put away the last bucket, closed it, and fell into a deep sleep.

He woke up because somebody was pulling on his arm. Urfin was taken over by terror when he opened his eyes: by the bed was a bear, who was holding the sleeve of his jacket.

"I'm dead, thought the carpenter. "He will eat me... But where did the bear come from? The door was locked..."

Minutes went by, but the bear didn't show any sing of hostility, only tugged Urfin's sleeve, and suddenly, a hoarse, low voice was heard.

"Master! Time to wake up, you were sleeping for too long."

Urfin Jus was so surprised, he fell out of his bed: a bear hide, that was on the floor, is now standing in front of him, shaking its head.

"This is the hide of my bear. It can walk, talk... But why? Maybe it's because I spilled some powder on it..."

To test his hypothesis, Urfin talked to the owl:

"Guam... Guamoko!..

The owl was silent.

"Listen, you selfish bird!" Urfin viciously yelled. "I have been breaking my tongue long enough, trying to speak out your darn name! If you don't want to answer, go away to the forest and get food yourself!"

The owl answered: "OK, don't rage! Guamoko is fine, but I'm not going to agree for anything shorter. What did you want to ask me?"

"Is it true that the life force of the plant is so strong, that even its powder has brought the hide back to life?"

"Yes it is. I heard about this plant from the wisest of owls, my great-grandfather, Kapitofilax...

"Enough," barked Urfin, "Shut up! And you, bear hide, get back to where you were, don't interfere with my thinking."

The hide went back to its usual place and lay down.

"That is interesting stuff," Urfin murmured, seated by the table. "The question is, is this stuff useful to me or not?"

After some long thinking, he decided it was useful to him, since it gave him great power over objects.

But he still needed to test exactly how strong the power of the life powder was. On a table there sat a parrot dummy with blue, red, and green feathers. Urfin got out a handful of the powder and put it on the dummy's head and back.

Then a strange thing happened. The powder got smoky and, with a hissing sound, started to disappear. Its brown grains seemed to melt and be adsorbed by the parrot. The dummy started moving, looked around... The parrot flapped its wings, and, with a sharp cry, flew out the window.

"It works!" cried Urfin gladly, "It works! On what else should I try it on?"

By the wall there was a pair of deer antlers that served as a decoration, and Urfin generously put powder on them.

"Let's see what will what will happen here," Urfin smirked to himself.

He didn't have to wait long for the result. Again, the light smoke above the antlers, the disappearing of the grains... The nails started to rattle and the antlers fell to the ground, and savagely charged at Urfin Jus.

"Help!" cried the frightened carpenter, running away from the antlers.

But they skillfully followed him everywhere: under the bed, on the table, below the table. The bear hide rolled up into a ball at the front door, which was closed.

"Master," it yelled, "Open the door!"

Dodging the hits, Urfin opened the door and ran out on the porch. After him ran the bear hide, roaring, and then the viciously hopping deer antlers. They all got into a confused mass, and tumbled down the steps. And in the house, the laughing hoots of the owl were heard.

The antlers then knocked down the wooden gate, and quickly hopped away toward the forest. Urfin, all battered up and bruised, rose from the ground.

"Darn it!" he groaned, "That really hurt!"

The hide mumbled:

"Don't you know, master, that right now is when deer are extremely vicious? Good thing that you're still alive... Well, those deer in the forest are really going to get hurt because of those antlers." And the hide laughed horsely.

From this, Urfin concluded that he should use the powder more carefully, and not bring just anything to life.

In his house, there was a very big mess: almost everything was broken, or fell down; there were lots of feathers from pillows. Jus angrily said to the bird:

"Why didn't you warn me that it is dangerous to bring the antlers to life?!

The evil minded bird answered:

"Guamokolatokint would have warned you, but Guamoko didn't have enough insight for that."

Deciding to get even with the owl for his betrayal later, Urfin started to clean up. He picked up a wooden clown he made. The clown had a vicious face and the mouth had a lot of sharp teeth, so nobody bought him.

"Well, I think you won't cause as much havoc as the antlers did," said Urfin and sprinkled some powder on him.

When he did that, he put the clown on the table and started to daydream. He only got snapped out of it when he felt a sharp pain: the toy was biting him on the finger.

"And your harmful too, you piece of garbage" angrily yelled Urfin Jus and threw the toy on the floor.

It crawled over to a far corner, then hid under a chest, and sat there, moving his limbs back and forth to amuse himself.

Comments would be appreciated.


	3. Chapter 3

Again its a translation and everything.

THE PLANS OF URFIN JUS

One time, Urfin sat on the porch and listened how in the house, the bear hide and Guamoko argued

"You don't like master," grumbled the hide. "You intentionally were silent when he brought the antlers to life, even though you knew it was dangerous... You still are defiant, still defiant. I had a good look at your brother when I lived in the forest. Be careful, I will get you...

"Hoo-hoo-hoo," teased the owl from a high pole. "Well, you totally scared me you empty chatterbox."

"It's true that I am empty," admitted the hide. "I'll ask master to fill me with straw, because I have poor balancing, any breeze can knock me over.

"That's a good idea," noticed Urfin, "I'll have to do that.

The voices in the room started to get louder, until finally Urfin angerly shouted:

"Hey, you over there! Quiet!"

The debaters continued to argue , whispering.

Urfin started to build plans for the future. Of course, he needed to get a higher ranking in the Blue Land. He knew, that the Munchkins chose a respected elder named Pren Cocus as their ruler after the death of the Wicked Witch of the East.

Under his rule, the Munchkins lived freely and happily.

Coming into his house, Urfin started walking around his room. The owl and the hide stopped talking. Jus reasoned verbally with himself:

"Why does Pren Cocus rule the Munchkins? Is he smarter than me? Is he as good a master as me?" Urfin proudly stood up straight, buffed out his chest. "No, Pren Cocus is far behind me!"

The bear hide proudly added:

"Your right master, you have a very intimidating look!"

"Nobody asked you," barked Urfin and continued: "Pren Cocus is richer than me, that's true. He has a very big field on which are a lot of workers. But now, when I have a magic powder, I can make as much workers as I want, they will clear away the forest, and I too will have a large plain... Wait! What if they aren't workers, but soldiers? Yes! I will make a lot of fierce, strong soldiers, and then the Munchkins won't dare not to admit me as their ruler!

Urfin started to run around the room in excitement.

"Even that darn little clown bit me so hard that the bite still hurts," thought Urfin, "and if I make wooden soldiers in human size, teach them to wield weapons... Then I could have as much power as the Wizard of Oz himself!"

But then the carpenter frightfully shut his mouth: he thought he said those rude words. What if they were heard by the Wizard? Urfin slumped his head into his shoulders and was expecting a hit from an invisible hand. But everything was fine, and Jus calmed down.

"I have to be more careful," he thought, "To start, I'll be content with Blue Land. But later..."

But he decided not to go on.

Urfin Jus knew the beauty and riches of Emerald City. In his youth, he had the luck to visit it during a festival, and the memories haven't left him.

Urfin saw there wonderful buildings: their higher stories where wider than the lower ones, like an upside-down pyramid. The bridge was always cool and shady; the rays of the sun didn't reach there. Everyone there was wearing green glasses, and the strange glow of the emeralds did not just come from the walls of the buildings, but also from the rocks of the bridges...

So much treasure! The wizard didn't have an army to protect them-he only had one warrior named Din Geor. Anyway, why would the wizard need a huge army when he could exterminate all his enemies with a single look?

Din Geor only had only one thing to do: take care of his beard. And it was quite some beard! It reached to the floor. The solder combed his hair all day with a crystal comb.

During the festival, Din Geor showed his fighting moves for the entertainment of the public. The spectators marveled at his skill with the sword, spear, and shield.

When the festival was over, Urfin walked over to Din Geor and asked:

"Oh great Din Geor, I can't tell you how amazed I am. Tell me, where did you learn those moves."

The flattered soldier answered:

"In the old days, there were a lot of wars. I read that in a chronicle. I found an ancient writing that told about how the troops were trained, what the fighting moves where, how and what orders were given. I studied everything and tried doing it, practiced... and here are the results!"

To remember the techniques of the soldier, Urfin decided to work with the clown.

"Hey clown!" he shouted, "where are you?"

"I'm here master," a squeaky voice answered from a chest. "Are you hit me again?"

"Get out and don't be afraid, I'm not angry at you. And since you are now alive, I will give you a name: you will be called Eot Ling."

Eot Ling got out of hiding.

"Now I'll see what you are capable of," said Urfin, "Can you march?"

"What is that master?"

"Don't call me master, call me ruler! I'm talking to you too, bear hide!"

"Yes ruler!" answered the clown and the bear hide in one voice.

"To march is to walk, raising your knees up, and turn left or right when ordered."

Eot Ling turned out to be a fast learner and quickly got down the soldier training, but he couldn't pick up the wooden saber that Urfin made, and any fingers that Urfin tried to put on just ended up, as fists.

"I'll have to give my future soldiers good long fingers," Urfin decided.

The training lasted all day. Urfin got tired of giving orders, but the clown had been fresh the entire time, never showed any sign of tiredness. Of course, that was to be expected, how can wood get tired?

During the lesson, the bear hide watched with admiration, and quietly repeated all of its ruler's orders. Guamoko just stared spitefully with his yellow eyes.

Urfin was impressed. But he suddenly had a disturbing thought: what if someone stole the life powder?

He then closed his door and locked it, secured the door to the basement, where the powder was stored, with some boards, but he still slept in fear, woke up with every "thump" and "creak".

Now he could give back the Munchkins their metal sheets that the carpenter did not need anymore. Jus decided that his new appearance in the town should be memorable. He remade the cart into a wagon, so he could harness the bear hide to it. And then he remembered the conversation of the bear hide and the owl that he eavesdropped.

"Listen bear hide!" he said. "I noticed that you are too light and unbalanced when you walk, and decided to fill you with straw and tanbark."

"Oh ruler, you are very wise!" cried the simple-hearted bear skin.

In the back yard, Urfin got a load of straw and tanbark, and then he quickly filled the hide with it. Jus started to think.

"Listen bear hide," he said. "I will give you a name too."

"Oh, ruler!" the bear hide cried in glee. "Is it going to be as long, as the owl's?

"No," Urfin dryly answered. "Quite the opposite, it will be short. You will be called Topotun."

The bear really liked his new name.

"Great!" he yelled. "I have the well-sounded name in Blue Land. To-po-tun! Now let's see if that owl tries to annoy me!"

Topotun proudly went out to the yard, happily grumbling:

"Now I feel like a real bear."

Later that day, Urfin harnessed Topotun to the wagon, brought with him Guamoko and the clown, and, with the cargo, rode into town. The metal sheets banged against each other each time the wagon wheels bumped against something, and the frightened Munchkins ran away in crowds.

"Urfin Jus is a mighty wizard," they whispered amongst each other. "He brought a bear to life that died last year."

Jus listened to those conversations, and his heart overflowed with pride. He ordered the house maids to take the metal sheets, and they, frightfully looking at the bear and the owl, quickly emptied the wagon.

"Do you understand now, who is the mayor here?" Urfin asked harshly.

"We understand," said the Munchkins shyly and started crying.

At home, Urfin Jus decided that he should use the powder very carefully. He ordered the a metalworker to make several metal buckets with tightly attached locks, put the powder in them, and buried them under a tree in his yard. He no longer believed in the safety of the basement.

If you read this, please review!

Some differences in the Volkov version: "the soldier" is called Din Geor, and has a huge beard which he loves to comb.


	4. Chapter 4

THE BIRTH OF THE WOODEN ARMY

Urfin understood that if he was to work on the army alone, then even a small amount of soldiers would take him a long time to make.

In the town, a bear appeared, and roared in a trumpet-like voice. The scared Munchkins scattered.

"Our ruler Urfin Jus," announced Topotun, "ordered that every day, six men are to come to him to chop wood. They must come with their own saws and axes."

The Munchkins thought about it, cried about it... and agreed.

In the forest, Urfin marked the trees that were to be chopped down, and showed how he wanted them to do it.

Topotun brought the logs to Urfin's home. There, Urfin put them to dry, but in the shadows, not the sunlight, so they wouldn't crack.

After a few weeks, when the logs were dry, Urfin started to work. He polished logs for bodies, prepared arms and legs. Urfin first decided to limit himself, for the time being, to five teams, each team having ten soldiers and a corporal: he decided that would be enough to conquer Blue Land.

He also decided to make a general to command the army.

Urfin decided to make the body of the soldiers out of pine trees, but the heads out of oaks, in case the solders needed to use their heads in a fight. And for soldiers that aren't supposed to discuss things, oak heads work best.

For the corporals, Urfin prepares red wood, and for the general he found, with great difficulty, a very rare rosewood tree and cut it down.

Making a human sized figure was new for Urfin, so he made a test soldier. The soldier had a fierce scowl, and glass beads served as eyes. Urfin sprinkled some magic powder on him, got a little dreamy, and suddenly a wooden fist hit him so hard, he flew five paces away. Angrily, Urfin grabbed an ax and was about to chop the figure unto pieces, when he realized what he was doing.

"I'll just make more work for myself," he thought, "But he is really strong... With these soldiers, I will be invincible!"

When he made the second soldier, Urfin thought that if he was going to work by himself, it was going to take months to make the army. But he really wanted to lead the army. So he decided to make his first two soldiers his apprentices.

It turned out that teaching them was hard. Progress was so slow, that Urfin sometimes lost his patience and bombarded his apprentices with insults:

"What idiots! Oakheads!"

Once, on the angry question of the teacher "Who are you after this!", the student answered: "I am an oakhead."

Urfin laughed at that.

"Fine! You will be called oakheads, that is a fitting name for you!"

When the oakheads learned some carpentry skills, they started helping their master in his work: made the bodies, arms and legs, carved out fingers.

But the job didn't go on without some funny incidents. Once Urfin had to go out. He gave his apprentices saws and told them to cut up ten logs. When he returned, and saw what his apprentices did, he was furious! The workers had quickly cut up the logs, and since there was nothing else to do, they started to saw everything they could find: the gate, the fence, the table... All over the yard, there were piles of splinters that fit only for firewood. However, that wasn't enough for the wooden sawyers, so they uselessly sawed each other's' legs!

After that, Urfin tried not to leave his apprentices without someone to watch.

Having done some progress with the soldiers, Urfin started to make the corporals out of red wood.

The corporals were made very well: they were taller than the soldiers, with thicker arms and legs, with fierce scowls that could scare anyone.

The soldiers were not supposed to know that their superiors were made out of wood, just like they were, so Urfin made them in a different room.

Urfin spent a lot of time teaching the corporals. They had to understand that compared to their ruler, they are pathetic, and any command for them is the law. But for the soldiers, they are demanding and harsh commanders and their soldiers have to obey them. As a sign of authority, Urfin gave them clubs made of ironwood, and said that he wouldn't mind if they broke the clubs against the backs of their soldiers.

To elevate (in rank) the corporals, Urfin gave them personal names: Arum, Befar, Vatis, Giton, and Daruk.

When the education of the corporals was finished, they proudly appeared in front of the soldiers, and instantly beat them for not being enthusiastic enough. The soldiers didn't feel pain, but they sadly looked on the marks of the hits on their smooth, strait bodies.

Taking the needed materials and instruments, Urfin locked himself in the house, giving Topotun control over the wooden army, and started to make the rosewood general. Urfin put a lot of effort into the future warlord.

Two weeks were needed to make the general, while a normal soldier took only three days. He turned out beautifully: across his entire body were multicolored patterns and the entire body sparkled. Instead of a left arm he had a huge wooden spiked mace that was three times as heavy as a corporal's club and could shatter any wooden head with a single blow.

Urfin brought the general to life, who jumped from the bench, and, threateningly looking around, started to move at his maker. At first, Urfin got scared, but then commanded:

"Stop! Stand straight!" the general froze. "Listen to my words! You – are General Lan Pirot, the commander of the invincible army of Urfin Jus. And I am Urfin Jus, your lord and ruler! Understand? Repeat it!"

The wooden figure answered hoarsely, but accurately:

"I am General Lan Pirot, the commander of the invincible army of Urfin Jus. You are Urfin Jus, my lord and ruler... Why are you the ruler?" the general suddenly asked. "I think it should be the other way. I'm taller, and I'm stronger..."

He threateningly stepped forward to Urfin, who first retreated a few steps, then angrily shouted:

"Topotun! Show this fool who the ruler here is!"

The bear gave the general a good hit on the head, who fell down. When he got up, he said:

"Why such harsh actions, ruler? You see the dent in my forehead?"

"I can fix the dent, but now you will know which one of us is in charge."

"I will know. Where is my invincible army?"

When the general learned that his subjects will be 5 corporals and 50 soldiers, and in the future there would be more, he calmed down.

While Lan Pirot was learning about warfare, like how to use weapons and act like a general, the wooden apprentices made wooden arms, legs, heads, and bodies all day long thanks to their unlimited stamina.

And then one day, Urfin appeared on the balcony with the gleaming and impressive Lan Pirot. The Oakheads were glad to have such a mighty leader to represent them.

The general assembled the army and then scolded it for not having a brave enough look on their faces.

"I'll put warrior spirits in you!" growled the warlord. "You will understand what military service is!"

After that day, the general held military education every day.

For the determination that Urfin Jus showed when he made the wooden army, the sly owl Guamoko started to respect him. He understood that his service was not needed to Urfin and that he lived pretty well with his new master. Guamoko quit insulting Urfin and started to call him "ruler" more often, and their relationship improved.

Topotun was proud to see what wonders his ruler was making. He demanded that all oakheads show great respect to the ruler.

Once, Lan Pirot didn't stand up fast enough when Urfin came in and didn't bow low enough. For that, the bear hit the general so hard, that he fell. Luckily, the soldiers did not see that, so the general's authority wasn't damaged, which couldn't be said about his polished body.

But from then on, the general not only respected his ruler, but also his trusty bear.

Finally, the wooden army was taught discipline and use of weaponry. The soldiers did not have swords, so he just gave them wooden clubs. For a start it was enough: the oakheads were impervious to arrows, spears, swords.

What do you think? Please review! Flames acceptable as long as they have a good reason.


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry for the long wait everybody! I wasn't in a writing mood. And a lack of reviews didn't help. Translation stuff and all those other disclaimers: This is a translation of the Russian continuation of "Wizard of Oz".

MARCH OF THE OAKHEADS

During one bad morning, the inhabitants of Cogida woke up to a march; the army of Jus was patrolling across the city. At the front the rosewood general proudly led the army, while the corporals marched behind him, leading the platoons.

"One two, one two!" commanded the corporals, and the soldiers marched in rhythm.

At the back, Urfin rode in his wagon pulled by the bear and proudly watched his army.

"Army, stop!" yelled Lan Pirot, and the wooden feet stopped moving, with their owners standing strait up.

The frightened inhabitants of the village, now out of their homes, stood on their porches and behind the fences.

"Hear me, inhabitants of Cogida!" Urfin announced quite loudly. "I appoint myself as ruler of Blue Land! For hundreds of years, the Munchkins served the wicked witch of the west. She died, but her magical power did not. See those wooden people? I made them myself and brought them to life. If I say as much as a word, they will beat you all up and destroy your homes. Do you acknowledge me as your leader?"

'We do", answered the Munchkins and started crying.

The heads of the Munchkins shook from the crying, and the bells on their hats happily rung. The ringing fit their mood, so they took off their hats and put them down on the ground.

Urfin ordered everyone to go back to their homes, but stopped the smiths, to whom he gave the job of making sabers for the corporals and the general.

To make sure none of the citizens warned Pren Cocus, he ordered the oakheads to surround the area and make sure nobody got past.

Urfin went to a rich-looking house, kicked out the people who lived there, gave Topotun guard duty, and went to sleep.

He slept for a long time, woke up at sunset, and went to see how the guards were doing.

He was met with an unexpected sight. The oakheads were still at their assigned locations, but they were covered in leaves and branches.

"What the problem?" asked Ufin harshly. "What happened to you?"

"We're ashamed…" shyly answered Lan Pirot. "We're – naked…

"Pft, you're made out of wood!" Yelled Urfin.

"But we're people, ruler, you said that yourself," replied Lan Pirot. "People wear clothes… And they make fun of us…

"Fine, I'll get you clothes!"

The wooden army was so glad that they yelled "yes" three times to honor him.

After leaving, Urfin started thinking: it was easy to promise clothes to fifty six wooden soldiers, but where to get it? In Cogida, their probably won't be enough materials or masters for the job.

Urfin told his troubles to the owl. Guamoko turned his big yellow eyes and said just one word: "Paint."

That word explained everything to Urfin. Why dress up wooden bodies, which don't need defense from the cold, when you could just paint them?

Urfin summoned the elders and orderedto bring him all the paint in the village.

Surrounding himself with the buckets of paint, Urfin got to work. He first took a soldier for experimentation. After drawing a military outfit and a pair of boots, Urfin showed his work to the rest of the troops who wanted the same done to them.

It was hard for Urfin to work on the project alone, so he ordered all the local painters to come help him. After that, things went smoothly, and in two days, the army was all shining in new paint.

The first squad was painted yellow, the second: blue, third was green, fourth was orange, and fifth was purple.

The corporals were given ribbons with the "outfit" to further show their authority, as well as signify what squad they commanded. The problem was that the soldiers weren't patient enough to wait until the paint dried and they started poking each other, leaving dirty spots all over their torsos, so they started to look like leopards.

Urfin managed to convince the general that his patterns are better than any clothes.

The painted oakheads looked marvelous, but there was a problem. The oakheads looked exactly the same, and commanders used to tell them apart by the position of their holes and wood patterns, but since they were covered by the paint, that method no longer worked.

But Urfin quickly came up with a solution: he drew a number on the chest and back of each soldier. Those numbers became the names of the soldiers, which was very convenient. Before that, soldiers were summoned like this: "Hey you, with that little hole on your chest, one step forward! Stop, stop, stop, were are you going? Do you have a little hole on your chest? I don't need you, but that other one with the wavy pattern on his left sholder!" Now things were a lot easier: "Green one, two steps forward!"

Now there was nothing to stop the march: the sabers were forged and sharpened, the painted clothes were dry. Urfin made a saddle so he could ride on Topotun comfortably. He attached the containers that had the precious powder. The entire army, including the general, was forbidden to touch them.

Several of the oakheads carried tools from the workshop, while others had spare arms, legs, and heads.

Urfin locked his house and workshop with large locks, and ordered the Munchkins not to touch them. He put the wooden clown in his pocket and warned him to not bite. The owl sat on Urfin's shoulder.

The army out to attack Prem's house at dawn. It proudly marched forward, and Urfin was glad he put numbers on the back of the soldiers. If one of them ran away during battle, it would be easy to identify him and chop him into pieces for firewood.

So, yeah, sorry for the long wait again. By the way, if you think this should be rated T, let me know.


	6. Chapter 6

THE NEW PLOT

The conquest of Blue Land was very easy for Urfin. Prem Cocus and his workers were caught unaware. They didn't even try to resist the ferocious oakheads and instantly admitted defeat.

The government revolution succeeded: Urfin Jus became the new ruler of Blue Land.

About 3 years ago, there was an earthquake in Blue Land, and as a result, the path to Emerald city was cut off by two deep cliffs, so communication between the Munchkins and Emerald City's citizens was cut off. During their trip, Dorothy and her friends got over the cliffs with great difficulty, and such a feat was too hard for the Munchkins, so they sat in their houses and listened and learned about what was happening thanks to the birds.

Listening to birds' conversations, the Munchkins learned that the Wizard of Oz, left The Land of Oz several months ago, and left "Scarecrow the Wise" as his successor. The Munchkins also learned that the fairy who killed the wicked witch returned home.

Urfin learned about this as well. The news came to him thanks to Guamoko, who found out about that from forest owls. When the news reached Urfin, the former carpenter, now the ruler of the Munchkins, started thinking. He thought that now would be a great time to fulfill his dream and take over Emerald City. The mystery surrounding The Wizard of Oz and his magical abilities scared Urfin, but Scarecrow failed to do that. Of course, he was anxious about the title "the Wise".

But he reasoned this way with Guamoko: "Let's say, Scarecrow has wisdom. But I have power, in the form of fifty five wooden brutes. What can he do with his wisdom, when I have the oakheads, and he has only one soldier with a really long beard? He does have a trusted ally, the Tin Woodman, but he won't get there in time to help… The decision is made: were going to conquer Emerald City!"

Guamoko agreed with his ruler's plan.

The army of Urfin Jus was deployed.

The menacing conqueror hoped that Scarecrow will remain unaware of his plans in vain. The same birds that brought the news to Blue Land, also informed Emerald City that it was going to be attacked by an army of wooden men called "Oakheads", led by Urfin Jus who already conquered Blue Land.

Emerald City existed for decades, and not once was it attacked. When The Wizard of Oz ruled, no one dared to, thinking he was an actual Wizard who was very powerful, and no one dared to wage war on him.

Scarecrow summoned a war council. Its members were Din Geor the soldier, Faramant the gatekeeper, and Kagi-Karr, the crow that gave Scarecrow the idea of obtaining brains, and several other important citizens.

After making a short report on Urfin's plans, Scarecrow finished like this: "Good thing that we found out about this. We can't afford to lose time; we need to start building a strong defense.

Din Geor added: "I will immediately gather some workers, and they will start raising the walls. We will reinforce the gates with metal to make it harder to break in. I will also make them bring heavy objects to throw from the walls to throw down."

"Very good program!" Scarecrow said, satisfied, "It is easy to see that you are a great war strategist. Go and get ready for work! What about you, Faramant, any ideas?"

"I'll send out men to the farms. They will collect all the food, animals, and plants. We'll put them in the city's supplies, and get grass for the animals. The enemy can wait for a year, but they won't flush us out through starvation. We'll send the women, kids, and elderly to hide in a forest so we don't have extra mouths to feed," replied Faramant.

"Very thought-out plan!" agreed Scarecrow, "Now go execute it. How about you Kagi-Karr?"

"I'll send out a flock of birds on the Yellow Brick Road to spy on the army and tell us their actions. I'll also send some birds to Yellow Land to get the Tin Wooldman."  
"Bravo, bravo! I didn't make mistakes in choosing my assistants. As for everyone else, we'll have to work together to protect our wonderful city."

The citizens gave out a heart-full cheer. The one who cheered the most was a plump round fellow named Ruff Belan, who continued to cheer and wave his hands even after everyone else was quiet.

With a dignity filled voice, Scarecrow announced: "I am glad for you patriotic feelings, since protecting your home city is your sacred duty. But enough talk, let's get to work."

Then everyone went to do something, from reinforcing the walls to collecting food from the farms. And so Urfin's plan to attack Emerald City unexpected failed.

Within three days, the sped up attack force encountered the first of the two cliffs. Here, the oakheads had a little adventure.

The wooden soldiers were used to walking on solid, even ground, so the cliff didn't look like it was dangerous. The Yellow squad, along with their corporal, Arum, was sent tumbling down. The other oakheads did not learn anything from that. The Blue Squad then marched forward, and Urfin yelled out: "General, make the army stop!"

The General barked: "Army, stop!"

The death of the wooden soldiers was prevented, and all that was left was to recover the bodies of the victims and repair them. That job, as well as the construction of a wooden bridge across the chasm, took five days to complete.

But soon, the first chasm was left behind, and the army went out into the forest. It had a bad reputation: the infamous Kalihads inhabited it, crosses between bears and tigers, known for their ferocity.

Urfin was swinging his head back and forth, scared.

The entire place looked creepy. Giant trees covered in shiny, wet moss blocked the sun, and everything below was gloomy and moist. The Yellow Brick Road was covered in leaves and moss.

At first, everything was going fine, but then Lan Pirot came over to Urfin

"Ruler!" he shouted. "There are animal faces showing out of the bushes. They have yellow eyes and daggers for teeth and fingers."

"Those are Kalihads," said a scared Urfin.

He then looked around and saw several little flames in the trees: the shining eyes of the predators.

"General, get the army prepared for battle!"

"Of course, Ruler!"

Urfin was surrounded by oakheads with clubs and sabers.

The Kalihads walked back and forth throughout the thicket, but didn't attack: the strange appearance of the prey made them anxious. And they didn't smell anything appetizing to top on that. But then, the wind changed and brought Urfin's sent to them.

After they picked it up, two of the hungriest and most impatient Kalihads jumped into the ring. Before they reached the center, the corporals' sabers shot up and impaled them. The soldiers' clubs got to work and started hitting the beasts, crushing their skulls, ribs, and other bones. The predators were dealt with very quickly, and their broken bodies were thrown aside. Urfin was very satisfied and gave the army a salute.

The rest of the hunters didn't dare to attack and walked away into the depths of the forest.

Urfin thought about reviving the corpses, since he would get one of the most powerful minions by his side, but decided against it. If they were to turn on him, which they probably would, considering their aggressive nature, he would have no way of stopping them.

On the second cliff, the oakheads stopped by themselves.

After building a bridge across it, the army walked out into the field. Here, another unfortunate event waited for Urfin and his army.

The oakheads saw very little during their short lives, so when they saw something new, they didn't know how to act.

If there was a third chasm, there wouldn't be a problem. But instead, there was a river that crossed the pat between Emerald city and Blue Land. The oakheads saw only little streams that they could walk over without even getting their feet wet. So the wide open river seemed like a new, comfortable pathway for the general.

"After me, my brave army!"

With those words he ran off to the shore of the river, with the rest of the troops hot on his trail.

The water by the shore was deep and fast. It got the general, the corporals, and the soldiers and carried them away. Urfin yelled: "Stop, STOP!" in vain. The soldiers only obeyed their general, and didn't understand what was happening, walking into the water squad by squad.

Two-three minute, and the conqueror was left without an army.

Urfin started to pull his hair out of anger and hopelessness.

Guamoko chimed in: "Don't despair, ruler. I was here in my youth, and I remember there is a batch of marine plants downstream. Our warriors are probably stuck there.

The words of the owl calmed Urfin down a little bit, and he started walking along the shore with Topotun by his side. After an hour and a half of walking, he saw that the river started getting thinner and thinner, and there was a little island with cattails and moving figures in the distance. Urfin was relieved: all was not lost.

After finding Lan Pirot he yelled: "General, order the oakheads to swim to the shore!"

"What does "swim" mean?" asked Lan Pirot?

"Well then paddle!"

"How do you paddle?"

Urfin spat angrily and started to build a raft. Rescuing the army took him a few days. The wooden army looked very pathetic: the paint was nearly washed off, the limbs moved very slowly…

The army was forced to make camp, to wait for the soldiers to dry off, and for Urfin to make a large, sturdy raft.

The yellow brick road went to the North, and it was obvious that it hadn't been taken care of for some time. It had plants sticking out all over, and in some places, it was surrounded by bushes, making it narrow. In these places, the oakheads had to walk in a single file.

Only one creature in this strange army felt hunger and tiredness, and it was its founder and ruler: Urfin Jus.

The lunch hour came along, and it was time to set up camp, but corporal Befar continued to walk forward, and the his platoon followed him. Urfin called Lan Pirot and told him: "General, tell the army to stop."

Lan Pirot poked the last soldier and started to say: "Pass this forward:"

The oakhead didn't finish listening. With the word "pass this on" he poked the next soldier in line. But the blow was a little harder than the original.

"Pass this on!" yelled blue nine and hit blue eight in the back

"Pass this on, pass this on, pass this on!" The hits continued in a chain, becoming stronger and faster each time.

Soon enough, the platoon started brawling. The clubs beat the painted backs, a couple of oakheads collapsed.

Some time passed before Urfin managed to get the troops in order.

After some rest, the troops went further north.

Of course, all of this was informed to Scarecrow. The cliff incident made him think that Urfin would give up. But when a few days later, a blue jay told him that the army is crossing the second cliff, Scarecrow understood that Urfin was serious about his conquest and will not let anything stop him.

The journey near by the river confirmed this. The citizens worked as fast as possible. They lifted up rocks to the walls, and reinforced the gates. Wagons full of provisions poured into the city.

After crossing the river, the army went into a completely empty plane. Everything here was green. The houses were empty: their inhabitants fled to the city or the woods.

Urfin understood that his plot was known to Scarecrow, and pushed his soldiers as fast as possible.

Sorry it took so long, but this chapter is the longest I've written, about 2000 words. By the way, if you review, I might get the next chapter done faster.


	7. Chapter 7

The Story of Kaggi-Karr

The idea of getting brains was given to Scarecrow by Kaggi-Karr, a crow, who liked to talk a lot, but was a good bird in general.

After Dorothy rescued Scarecrow, she did not follow them. Instead, she stayed at the field with all the other crows, sparrows, and other birds. They worked so well, that when the farmer came out to gather wheat, he did saw only straw.

After some time, she heard about some scarecrow that succeeded the Wizard of Oz. Since ordinary scarecrows weren't very capable of ruling, Kaggi-Karr decided that it was the same one that she gave advice about brains.

She decided that for good advice, she deserved a good reward, and flew toward Emerald City. But getting an audience with Scarecrow the Wise wasn't very easy, since Din Geor didn't want to let in an "ordinary crow".

Kaggi-Karr got very agitated: "An ordinary crow! You do know that I am his friend, and that without me, he would have never gotten his current position!"

Din Geor then told Scarecrow about her presence, and, to his surprise, Scarecrow ordered her inside.

Scarecrow remembered the crow for her advice. He welcomed her in with happiness. He even got off his throne and walked over to her. The records stated that it was the highest honor a guest could get.

By order of Scarecrow, Kaggi-Karr was put into the list of nobles, given access to the royal kitchen, and got a field of wheat outside the city.

It was pretty short and cheesy, I know… Anyway, the next chapter is going to be longer.


	8. Chapter 8

THE SIEGE OF EMERALD CITY

Kaggi-Karr decided to prove to Urfin Jus that Emerald City was not an easy prey. And proof of that was a flock of bird that she organized.

While waiting for the enemy, the birds had to feed, and Kaggi-Karr gave them her wheat field. She knew that there wouldn't be a seed left, but she did it anyway.

Soon, on the yellow brick road, Urfin's army appeared a mile from the city. Kaggi-Karr sent a sparrow to tell Scarecrow, and sent her flock at the army.

The giant flock descended on the oakheads. They flew in front of their faces, scratch their backs, tried to pluck out their glass eyes. Kaggi-Karr went for Lan Pirot himself.

The warriors swung their clubs in vain, all of their blows missing the agile birds. But they did manage to hit each other, and a huge fight broke out. Urfin started to yell and stomp his feet. Topotun roared wildly, and gave fighting soldiers toppling smacks left and right.

After the encounter, Urfin understood that Emerald City is not an easy capture: a bunch of birds, not even hawks or eagles but crows and sparrows, were able to make such a mess, and there will be people on the walls, defending their city and freedom at all costs.

Finally, order was restored, the birds shooed away, and the army started walking to the gates.

Scarecrow and a mass of soldiers stood at the top of the gate. The most enthusiastic one was Ruf Belan, who kept on telling everyone to bravely defend their city, even though no one needed his comments.

The defenders observed their first small victory, but didn't rejoice much, knowing what was ahead.

Urfin Jus walked over to the gates with a white flag, and mistook their inactivity for submission. He then rang the gate bell.

"Who's there?" asked Scarecrow.

"It is I – the great Urfin Jus, ruler of Blue Land."

"What do you want?"

"I want Emerald City to surrender and admit me as their ruler!"

"Not going to happen!"

"Then I will take your city by force!"

"I would like to see you try!" The citizens then booed Urfin off.

Urfin then retreated from the gate and sent Corporal Befar and his squad to the nearest tree. They chopped it down, cut off all the branches, hoisted it up on their shoulders, and rushed forward. The trunk hit the gate, which started rattling.

And then a rain of stones and junk started falling on them. One of the smaller rocks hit Urfin on the elbow and knocked him onto the ground. Another hit Lan Pirot on the head and made a dent.

Urfin got onto his feet and ran from the gates, with the general trailing after him. The soldiers, seeing their superiors run, stopped whatever they were doing and ran after them, tripping over each other, dropping their weapons while the defenders laughed their heads off.

The army stopped by the walls of the city. Ufin rubbed his elbow and scolded the general for his cowardice, who tried to make an excuse using the dent on his head.

"You retreated as well, ruler," said Lan Pirot.

"Here is a piece of wood!" Urfin lectured. "I can repair your head, but if my head is hit, I will die!"

"What do you mean by 'die'?"

Urfin stopped talking with the general. In the end, everything was blamed on the soldiers who got pummeled by the Corporals' clubs.

The army didn't risk another attack, and made camp a distance from the wall.

The siege had begun. The soldiers attacked the gate two or three times, and always retreated, when the stones rained down.

It seemed as if the siege could go on indefinitely. However, the defense had a weak spot. The inexperienced soldiers were broken down by tiredness and longing for their families. At night, they were conquered by sleep. Scarecrow, never tiring, volunteered for night shift. That proved to be useful on the first night.

Scarecrow sat on the wall and observed Urfin's camp in the distance. He noticed how the army was getting ready for an attack.

Not hearing any movement behind the wall, the enemy started to slowly creep up to the gates. They carried axes and hoes, which they got from the neighboring farms. Scarecrow quickly woke up his soldiers, rocks started falling on the heads of the oakheads, and Urfin's army ran.

After that, Scarecrow started a discussion with Farmant and Din Geor: "If I was in the place of Urfin Jus, I would order my soldiers to protect themselves with shields. And I think that is exactly what they will do. With them, they could easily break through the walls, without having to worry about rocks.

"But what should we do if that happens?" asked Din Geor.

"Those wooden men are probably afraid of the same thing I am: fire. And we need to get as much straw onto the walls as possible, and make sure we have matches on our hands at all times."

Scarecrow's predictions came true the following night. In the darkest hour of the night, a new attack came. The soldiers crept up to the wall, holding tables and pieces of fences and gates over their heads. And then flaming straw started falling on them. The oakheads already had trouble with water, since they didn't know what it was. They also didn't know what fire was: while making them, Urfin was so scared of a fire he didn't even ready the oven. Now, this caution turned on him.

The straw fell on the ground and shields that the oakheads were using. They curiously stared at the unseen before sight. In the darkness of the night, the tongues of flames looked like wonderous colors, growing at very fast rates. The oakheads didn't even think of defending themselves. Instead, some of them put their arms into the fire, and, not feeling pain, watched as their fingers slowly turned into ash. Several of them had flames all over their bodies, and the intoxicating smell of burning paint filled the air.

Urfin watched in horror, as the army slowly started burning up. What to do? Water was nowhere near.

Guamoko told him a way out: "Cover it with dirt."

The first to get to work was Topotun. Toppling over a corporal with a flaming head, the bear started to dig with his mighty paws and covering up the fires. After that, the oakheads started to be more wary of the flames and ran from them.

The army retreated from the gates with huge losses. Several of them had such burns on their heads, they needed new ones, and most lost fingers or were burned to the elbows.

"Oakheads, oakheads, oakheads" sighed Urfin. "You seem to be perfect soldiers at first glance: strong, brave, never tiring. But you need more intelligence!"

Urfin finally understood that the city could only be taken by starving the residents out. Scarecrow also understood that. So he called up a war council to discuss the problem.

He started thinking so hard, pins and needles started coming out of his head, and he started looking like a hedgehog with metal spines. He then said: "Urfin brought with him many soldiers, but they are all wooden. My friend, the Tin Woodman, only one man, but he is made out of metal. Metal cuts wood, but wood doesn't cut metal. Therefore, metal is harder than wood, and if the Tin Woodman comes to our aid, he will destroy Urfin's army."

Kaggi-Karr agreed: "You are right. I sent a sparrow to him a while ago, but he has had a repair, which took a long time.

Since the only one in the council who could get to Yellow Land quickly was Kaggi-Karr, she was sent to get the Tin Woodman. She promised to not stop anywhere, and get back as soon as possible.


	9. Chapter 9

Betrayal

Two more days passed. Urfin's attempts to take the city failed. After every attack, Urfin had to get out his tools and repair the damaged soldiers. The unlucky conqueror decided to ask Lan Pirot and Guamoko for advice. They sat down far away from the walls under a large tree.

"General, I am at loss here," admitted Urfin. "We tried to break into the city day and night, and all of the attacks were repelled with huge losses on our side. I do not have the time to repair all of the soldiers."

"A real soldier has to run into a fight even without a head!" the general objected.

"I don't see how headless soldiers are supposed to fight." replied Urfin.

"Determination beats all!"

"Hm… I doubt it. But I'll try to convince Scarecrow to surrender one last time."

Waving a white flag, Urfin went up to the gates. "You have one last chance to surrender!"

"Why, did your soldiers grow wings?" asked Scarecrow.

"I don't understand the question."

"It's simple. To fly up to the wall, your soldiers need wings, and I don't think they have them."

Urfin returned to his comrades.

"I threatened them with another attack, but I know that it's useless," he said with a sigh. "The walls are strong, the gates reinforced, the ammunition is virtually limitless. The cursed birds, did their jobs, warned the citizens about our attack. We only have one option left: surrounding the city and starving them out."

"That won't help ruler," piped in Guamoko. Last night I flew in there, and was convinced that there was plenty of food: warehouses of grain, barrels of butter, milk, and cheese, fields full of cows…

"Damned Scarecrow, he oversaw everything!" moaned Urfin.

"Everything, but betrayal…"

"Betrayal?!" cried an excited Urfin.

"Calm down ruler! You see that plump man on the wall, who overreacts and constantly praises Scarecrow?"

"Yes. What about him?"

"That is Ruf Belan, the overseer of the royal bathrooms. When I was scouting, I happened to take a rest on his balcony while he was talking to his friends, cursing Scarecrow. Ruf Belan, is rich, a noble, and was aiming to be Oz's successor. But Oz chose Scarecrow to be the ruler instead, and since then Belan hates the straw man, and would gladly shift to our side."

Urfin was very pleased.

"Your findings are priceless, Guamokotakolint. Fly to the city this night, and tell Belan, that if he joins me, I will make him the Prime Minister, and that I will… Basically, tell him anything that will get him on our side."

"Yes ruler. It shouldn't be difficult." assured the owl.

Urfin then proudly went to his tent, accompanied by Topotun, Guamoko, and a squad of guards. The guards gave him a salute upon reaching the tent, and Urfin smiled with excitement.

This night, Scarecrow watched from the wall as usuall, while his soldiers rested. And then, a shadow crept up to the ruler. A short skirmish ensured, ending with his frail hands being tied together, and his mouth covered to prevent him from calling for help.

A minute later, the gate creaked open and out walked a short, plump man. He walked forward, but Urfin was already running to him.

"If I'm not mistake, you are Ruf Belan?" asked Urfin.

"Yes, my ruler. Guamoko told me your offers, and here I am."

"How did you do this?"

"Easily," smirked Belan. "I had my servant bring some treats to the guards, which had a sleep potion mixed into them."

"Good job, good job!" Urfin praised. "You are a man of my tastes, and I appoint you as the prime minister!"

Belan bowed all the way to the ground. "Thank you, your highness. I am a man of high honors, and I will carry out my duties as well as I can.

The army then moved through the gates and into the city.

In the morning, the citizens awoke to a loud trumpet, looked out a window, and saw Ruf Belan in a carriage, who announced that the mighty Urfin Jus rules Emerald City now, and that all must bow to him, or suffer severe consequences.

Meanwhile, Scarecrow the Wise sat in the castle's dungeon. He worried less about how he lost his authority, but more about how the Tin Woodman will be captured upon arrival. And there was no way to warn him! Faramant and Din Geor tried in vain to calm down the past ruler.


	10. Chapter 10

The Capture of the Tin Woodman

The carriage rolled through the city again the next day. Ruf Belan declared that all who volunteer to serve the great Urfin would be given a high position in the government.

However, there were not that many volunteers. Besides Ruf Belan, there were only a few who wanted to join-most of them were those who were considered the worst people in the city.

Ruf Belan did get the position as the prime minister, but when he asked for his gold, Urfin got stumped. Apparently, Guamoko messed up, since he wasn't told to offer that.

The rest of the volunteers got high positions in the government, but there were not enough of them to make a grand hall Urfin dreamed of. He sent out messengers to Scarecrow's former nobles in vain: the vast majority of them declined.

The citizens loathed the new nobles. But they especially loathed and even hated the traitor Ruf Belan, after learning of his treachery. From then on, he never walked in the city without a pair of oakheads guarding him. Urfin had to then give guards to all the nobles.

The ruler found out from Ruf Belan that Scarecrow sent a bird to get the Tin Woodman. Urfin then calculated, when he should arrive, and set up an ambush.

Ruf Belan took the place of Faramant, and changed his luxurious clothes for a common jacket for the event. Behind the gate, Arum's squad waited with a rope in their hands…

Kaggi-Karr flew to yellow land without any delays. She encountered the ruler on the road with a huge mallet in his hand.

A few months before that, when the winkies asked the tin woodman to be their ruler, they discussed like this: "A ruler like you would be great: you don't eat or drink, therefore you won't give us taxes."

They got more than they bargained for. Not only did the tin woodman not collect taxes from them, he also worked for them. Missing Scarecrow, Dorothy, and Lion, as well as not used to being lazy, the Tin Woodman went to work on the roads in the morning, breaking apart large rocks and making roads with them. The winkies got two perks from this: their fields were cleared of rocks, and they got new roads.

After learning from Kaggi-Karr, that Emerald City is under siege, he didn't waste a second. He threw the mallet on the ground, ran into the castle for his axe, and was well on his way. The crow sat on his shoulder, and told him of the news in detail.

The winkies were sad to see their ruler go, and waved him goodbye.

…The Tin Woodman was approaching Emerald City. Everything seemed fine, Urfin's camp was missing, the gates locked, as usual.

He came over to the gates, and knocked. Ruf Belan's face appeared in the window.

"Where is Faramant?" asked the Tin Woodman, surprised.

"He is sick, I'm replacing him."

"What is happening here?"

"Nothing much. They attacked us, and we repelled them with huge losses on their part, so they went away."

"How is Scarecrow?"

"He is fine and waiting for you. Come in."

Ruf Belan opened up the gate. And as soon as the Tin Woodman stepped inside, he was ambushed by the oakheads. His ax was taken from him, and a rope tied around his body. After a short struggle, the Tin Woodman fell and was carried away. Kaggi-Karr, with a harsh yell "Betrayal" managed to escape the attackers and perched on a wall.

She observed how the Tin Woodman was carried to the castle. The citizens looked through the windows with pity.

Kaggi-Karr followed the soldiers, and when they went into the castle, watched what happened through a window.

Urfin sat in a royal robe on the throne, his dark eyes shining with triumph. The few nobles that agreed to work for him sat near the throne. The soldiers of the green squad stood along the sides of the room like statues.

The Tin Woodman was brought in; he walked calmly. Behind him, a pair of soldiers was carrying his giant axe.

Urfin was frightened by the thought of what the figure before could have done to his army if he wasn't taken by surprise.

After a few minutes, Scarecrow was brought in. He was beat up, with straw and needles sticking out. The Tin Woodman became very sad to see his friend, and the former ruler of Emerald City, in such a state.

He then started crying.

"Careful, you don't have your oil!" warned Scarecrow. "You will rust."

"I'm sorry." said the Tin Woodman. "I tried to help, but I was ambushed."

"No I'm sorry that I sent for you without thinking."

"Enough!" Urfin rudely yelled. "This isn't the time for figuring out who is responsible, but for deciding your fates! Do you agree to serve me? I'll give you high positions, make you my heirs, and you will still rule, under my leadership though."  
The Tin Woodman and Scarecrow looked at each other and answered at the same time: "No!"

"You are not thinking clearly due to your defeat. Think about the fact that I can order your execution, and answer my question again."

"No!"

"I'll give you time to think about your decision, and the position you are in. Tomorrow, at this time, you will answer me again. Guards, take them to the dungeon!"

Several soldiers took them to the dungeons. The next day, Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman answered Urfin the same way as last time.

They appeared before the dictator on the day after that.

"No, no, no." was the answer he got.

"Here is my decision: I could burn Scarecrow, and melt down the Tin Woodman, but I'll let them live…"

The nobles started to praise their ruler's mercy.

Urfin continued: "Yes, stubborn fools, I am letting you live, but only for half a year. If you don't join me within six months, you will be executed. Until then you will locked in a tower, not in a dungeon, where everyone will be able to see you, and become convince of my mightiness. Take them away, soldiers!"

Marching loudly, the oakheads took them out.

Not far from the walls of the city was an old tower. When the Wizard of Oz ruled, he used it as a point for observation. There was always someone there, watching to see if anybody was approaching. But after Oz left, the tower was not used.

Below the tower was a door, which had a spiraling, dusty steps leading to the top. By Urfin's orders, the tower had a stone roof put on it. He didn't want the Tin Woodman to rust, or Scarecrow to lose his face, since they will then be incapable of serving him.

The oakheads took them up to the top, and locked the door. The Tin Woodman's hands were still tied. His jailors, knowing his strength, were afraid of him.

Left alone, the two friends looked around. To the east were the small houses of the farmers, with fields of wheat, and I between them: the yellow brick road.

To the north was Emerald City. Since the walls were shorter than the tower, it was possible to see the houses, and the city center, where there used to be fountains.

The two saw how the fountains stopped working, and around the city, strange shapes approached the emeralds.

"Watching the scenery?" a sharp voice proclaimed.

Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman turned around. In front of them was Kaggi-Karr.

"What's going on down there?" asked Scarecrow.

"Simple," answered the crow "By the order of our new leader, all the emeralds will be taken down and put into the treasury. Basically Emerald City will no longer have emeralds decorating it."

"I would love to meet face to face with that Urfin Jus and his stickheads, with my axe in hand!"

"In that case, we need to act, not sit here, with tied hands" informed the crow.

"I tried to untie the Tin Woodman's hands, but I wasn't strong enough." Said Scarecrow.

"Watch how it's done!"

Kaggi-Karr started working with her beak, and, in a minute, the ropes fell off of the Tin Woodman's hands.

"Great!" The Tin Woodman said with glee and stretched. "That was almost as bad as rusting. Now, how about going downstairs? I' confident I can break the door."

"Won't work," Said the crow. "There are some armed soldiers down there. Come up with something else.

"Ideas – are Scarecrow's job."

"See, I always told you, that brains are better than a heart," proclaimed Scarecrow.

"But a heart is also a needed thing." the Tin Woodman argued back. "Without a heart, I wouldn't be able to love the bride I left back in Blue Land."

"But brains…" Scarecrow began.

"Brains, heart, brains!" Yelled an angry Kaggi-Karr. "That's the only thing I hear from you two. Right now we need to act, not argue."

Kaggi-Karr was a grumpy bird, but a good companion. So the pair did not get defensive, but instead started thinking.

They thought about what they should do for a long time. The needles started to poke out of Scarecrow's head due to the pressure, and the Tin Woodman started to worry about how it might affect his friend.

"I got it!" exclaimed Scarecrow.

Kaggi-Karr, who was sleeping at the time, woke up and asked: "What is it?"

"We need to send a letter to Dorothy. She is a smart girl, and will most likely come up with something."

"Good idea, but who will take the letter to Dorothy?" asked the crow, laughing.

"You will, of course." answered Scarecrow.

"Me?" Asked an astonished Kaggi-Karr. "You want me to fly through the mountains to some unknown land, where birds don't have the gift of speech?"

"If you don't like it, we will send another crow." said Scarecrow. "One that's younger than you."

Kaggi-Karr got angered: "Another one? Younger? What is that other bird going to do? First off, it'll get lost, and won't reach Kansas. Second, it won't find Dorothy, because it never saw her. Third… basically, I'll take the letter myself."

"For the letter, we'll need a soft but firm leaf so that we can tie it to your leg. We will also need a needle." said the Tin Woodman.

"I can pull out a needle from my head." said Scarecrow, "I have plenty of them already."

The crow flew off and returned with a big, smooth leaf. Scarecrow gave the Tin Woodman the leaf and the needle:

"Write!"

The Tin Woodman was surprised: "But I thought that you were going to write. It was your idea to send the letter!"

"When I came up with it, I was expecting you to do it. I myself didn't learn how to do it."

"Neither did I. So, what are we going to do now?"

"How about we draw a letter, instead of writing it?"

"I don't understand how one can draw a letter."

"We need to draw you and me in a cage. Dorothy is a smart girl, she will understand that we are in trouble and are asking for help."

"Good idea! Start drawing."

But Scarecrow had little success. The needle kept slipping out of his clumsy fingers, and he couldn't draw even the simplest line. The Tin Woodman got into action. He himself didn't expect that he would draw so well: apparently he had a talent for art.

Scarecrow took out a piece of straw out of himself, and used it to tie the leaf to Kaggi-Karr's leg. The crow then said good bye to her friends, slipped through the bars, and flew off.


	11. Chapter 11

THE NEW RULER OF THE EMERALD NATION

After conquering Emerald City, Urfin thought for a long time on what his title should be, and decided on this title: 'Urfin the First, the all-powerful king of Emerald City and all surrounding countries; the Master, whose boots are rested on top of the Universe.'

The first to hear the new title where Topotun and Guamoko. Topotun was impressed by it, but the owl squinted and said: "First, let's see if the nobles can pronounce it."

Urfin decided to follow the owl's advice. He summoned Ruf Belan and a couple of other nobles, and said his title twice. After that, he ordered Belan to pronounce it.

The short and fat Ruf Belan started to sweat from the cold look Urfin was giving him and mumbled: "Urfin the First, the mighty king of Emerald City and sovereign countries; the ruler, whose boots are rested in the Universe."

"Bad, very bad." said Urfin harshly, and turned to the next one: "Now, overseer of trade and markets, it's your turn.

He then started speaking: "You are to be called Urfin the First, the advantaged king of Emerald City, and other sluggish nations; who is rested out of the universe with boots…"

A horse, choked cough was heard. It was Guamoko, trying to keep in his laughter. All red from rage, Urfin ordered his followers out.

After thinking about for several more hours, he made this title: 'Urfin the first, the powerful king of Emerald City, and the entire Land of Oz.'

The nobles were summoned again, and this time the tests were passed successfully. The new title was announced to the public, and saying it was considered equivalent to betrayal.

A festival was announced to honor Urfin's new title. Knowing that no one would come there willingly, the Prime Minister and the General made several measures to ensure everyone would be there. Before the start of the festival, at night, while everyone was sleeping, the oakheads went around the city. They woke the sleeping, and took them to the castle square. There, they could finish sleep or just wander around, but they couldn't leave.

So when Urfin came out in a royal cloak, he saw a large group of people. The weak cries "Hooray" were heard from the soldiers and the nobles.

The orchestra started playing. But it was not the orchestra, whose music was famed throughout the Land of Oz. Despite the threats, the musicians refused to play. Their instruments were confiscated and given to the oakheads and the nobles. The soldiers got the percussion, while the nobles got the windpipes.

The music was a mess. The tubas groaned the windpipes emitted a high pitch noise; the drums were beaten out of order. The oakheads beat the drums so hard that the skin on them popped. And the people couldn't take it, and fell over laughing. The chronicler stated that the laughter was a sign of happiness of Urfin the First's rise to power.

The crowning ceremony was over, and everyone who wanted to could go to the feast that followed.

Urfin, despite Guamoko's encouragement, couldn't bring himself to eat mice and leeches, so he devised a trick.

Before the feast, the Baker Baluol was summoned to Urfin for a private talk. Walking away from the meeting site, the chef made ugly faces, trying to keep in his laughter. The Chef would have loved to tell someone the secret they discussed. But he was threatened with death to not tell anyone about it. When he got to the kitchen, he banished all his assistants and got to work.

The feast was nearing its end. The nobles had given multiple toasts to the new ruler.

Urfin sat on at the end of the table on Oz's throne, which was brought there to remind everyone of the conqueror's glory. Except for the throne, the emeralds were taken out from the entire city, and when the light from the throne illuminated Urfin's dry, gloomy face, it made it even more unpleasant.

Guamoko perched on one of the throne's handles, his yellow eyes half closed. Topotun stood to the right of the throne, ready to pounce on anyone who didn't give the proper respect to the king.

The door then opened, and a fat chef walked in, carrying two large plates.

"His majesty's favorite dishes are ready!" He exclaimed, and set the plates down to the king's table.

The people present shuddered when they saw what was on the plates. One was filled with baked mice, the other with leeches.

Urfin stated: "We sorcerers have our own tastes, ones that may seem strange to ordinary folks…"

Topotun supported him: "I would like to see anyone that may find our ruler's tastes strange."

A morbid silence followed as Urfin ate several of the mice, and then brought a leech to his mouth, which started to squirm.

The people present then turned away, except for Ruf Belan, who continued to stare at his superior.

The scene would have been strange or horrifying to anyone who was in it, had they not known the secret that only Urfin and the chef knew. The food was fake. The mice where made out of rabbit meat, while the leeches were baked chocolate dough, and squirmed due to Urfin's crafty fingers.

With his trick Urfin hoped to accomplish two things: convince Guamoko that he was a real magician, and too scare and astonish his followers. He managed to accomplish both things. Guamoko, unable to see very well in the candlelight bobbed his head up and down. Urfin's second wish was fully completed as well.

When the nobles returned to their homes, they told their servants what they saw, and there were plenty of exaggerations.

Soon, the entire area was talking about how Urfin swallowed live snakes and lizards at the feast, which shocked and revolted the people.

Three days after the feast, the chronicler made an article that stated that Urfin was a descendant from the old kings that once ruled the entire land.

From this the article made two conclusions. The first was that Urfin was the legal ruler of the entire Land of Oz. The second was that the Witches of the North and South took Urfin's land without any legal justification, and that the two should be dealt with severely.

For his efforts, the chronicler got a silver cup that was confiscated from a merchant, and did not yet reach the royal treasury.

In order to spy on unhappy citizens, Urfin decided to make a police force. Soldiers were too bulky and slow for that job.

He then proceeded to make a prototype of one, and, satisfied with the results, ordered his wooden carpenters to start making them.

The police where slimmer and weaker than soldiers, but they were much more agile, thanks to their long legs, and their huge ears allowed them to pick up conversations with ease. Each policeman had long, fingers, with about 7 to 10 on each hand, since Urfin believed that it would allow them have a better grasp. They were assigned slingshots for weapons, and, with practice, were able to use with great effect.

The chief of police had the largest ears, the most fingers, and the longest legs. He had the same rank as the Prime Minister and the general, and could come in at any time to the throne room to give a report.

In the basement of the castle, the former soldiers worked relentlessly. After Emerald City was conquered, the Purple and Orange squads were trained to become carpenters, with the soldiers making the parts, and the former corporals putting them together. They made multiple faceless bodies, with a redwood corporal for every ten soldiers, and stacked them in a special room. At night, Urfin went into the room and carved out the faces, not trusting the carpenters to do it, and put in beads for eyes.

After that, he sprinkled the magic powder on them, and they were sent for their coloring. After that, the soldiers were sent to the corporals for training, while the corporals were sent to Lan Pirot for a military education.

Squad after squad walked out of the castle…

Urfin's army was reaching 120 soldiers, and 50 policemen. Soldiers and police patrolled the city and surrounding farms. The Blue and Yellow Squads were sent to Blue and Yellow land correspondingly, with a noble to maintain order.


	12. Chapter 12

_Part 2: Helping the Friends_

THE STRANGE LETTER

About a year passed since Dorothy returned to Kansas from the Land of Oz. In Kansas, everything was the same as it used to be: the fields of wheat, the flat plane, and the dusty streets. The only new thing was a house, replacing the one the hurricane took.

One summer day, a traveler appeared on Uncle Henry's house. He was in his middle age, with a peg leg on his left foot.

He walked like a sailor, rocking back and forth, like he was walking on a deck. His brown eyes stared into the distance, like he was looking into the ocean horizon.

Toto stated to bark at the stranger and tried to bite him on his wooden leg. Aunt Em turned around when she heard the barking, and ran out to meet him.

"Brother Charley!" cried Aunt Em. "You returned, you're alive!"

"Of course I'm alive, if I returned." said the man, hugging his sister.

"But your captain told us five years ago that you were taken prisoner by the cannibals of the island Kuru-Kus you were visiting."

Dorothy wondered, why she never heard of Charley, who was a sailor and was taken prisoner by cannibals.

Aunt Em then said: "Dorothy, this is your Uncle Charley!"

Dorothy then walked forward, and held out her hand for him to shake, but Uncle Charley lifted the girl and asked: "Do you remember me? Of course you don't, you were only three when I was at your house last time. But didn't Aunt Em tell you about me?"

Dorothy looked at her, not knowing how to answer the question.

Em answered: "Sorry brother: when the news came to us, Dorothy was five. We decided not to tell her about it. Dorothy grew, and started remembered less and less that she had an Uncle Charley... and then completely forgot about it."

Charles wasn't mad, and turned to his niece. "Well, since you can see that I am alive. Well, now that I'm here, I hope we can be friends."

"Of course Uncle Charley. By the way, how did you survive the cannibals?"

"I managed to convince them that I would be more useful alive than in a bonfire, and they admitted me in. They taught me five new ways to cook fish, showed me nine new species of edible plants, and on my fourth year with them, they put me on a boat with supplies and sent me out. After a few weeks on it, I found a ship, and now I am at your house."

Henry, learning from his neighbors that a stranger was near his house, and when he arrived, he was surprised to see Charley.

"I have business here Henry," stated Charley.

"Why? Couldn't you just come here as a guest?" asked Henry.

"For someone like me, there will always be a job," answered Charley. "Anyway, I want to buy my own ship, and I am a thousand dollars short…"

"Okay, we'll talk about it tomorrow, but for now, let's go eat."

After supper, Charley told everyone about his adventures, well until midnight.

"And I see that you have gotten richer." noticed Charley. "You now have a multi room house, and before you had one with only one room and a cyclone shelter."

And then Aunt Em and Uncle Henry remembered about Dorothy's adventure. But when Aunt Em started telling Charley about how a cyclone picked up their old house and Dorothy and Toto with it, Charley said: "Stop! As curious as I am, I would like to hear the story from my niece.

In the morning, Charley sat down with Dorothy, who told him about her adventure.

"Toto and I were very scared when the cyclone lifted the house far above the land. But I would have been more scared if I knew that the cyclone wasn't natural, but enchanted."

"What do you mean, enchanted?" asked Charles, interested.

"Well, a standard enchanted cyclone that evil witches send on people."

"How did you offend a witch so badly, that she sent a cyclone at you? That's like firing a cannon at robins."

"No, Uncle Charley, she wanted to kill everyone with the cyclone, but the witch of the north stopped her."

Dorothy told him about her adventures, about how the cyclone took her house to the Land of Oz, how she made 3 good friends, how they got to the Oz, and then went to confront the Wicked Witch of the West.

When Dorothy was finished her tale with how the silver shoes took her and Toto back home, the sailor didn't speak for some time.

"Well girl, I swear by all the gods of Kuru-Kus that that was a story filled with plenty of unordinary things. I would give ten years of my life to see this wonderful land!"

The story of Emerald City saddened Dorothy. She told Charley that she misses her friends, and that she will probably never see them again.

Charley and his niece got along very well. They talked through entire evenings, discussing their stories.

The sailor had plenty of things to talk about: how he fought white bears in the northern ice caps, hunted Rhinoceroses in Africa. But he admitted that he never heard of Kalihads or Flying Monkeys.

Charley was a jack of all trades: Dorothy was amazed at the contents of his tools that fit into his pockets. For example, his pocket knife also had scissors and a screw.

When needed, rope, nuts bolts, a saw, and much more came out of Charley's pockets. Sometimes Dorothy wondered if her uncle was a wizard, and made whatever he needed simply appear in his pockets.

He once made a mechanical scarecrow for the farm, one that swung its arms everywhere and amplified the winds' sounds into shrieks.

After two days, Aunt Em asked Charley to turn off the voice, saying: "I would rather have more sleep than a bigger harvest." Indeed, the scarecrow's shrieks didn't let anyone sleep.

In the evening, when Dorothy was finished with her homework, she and Charley would take a walk through the fields. The dust that was stirred up from the day settled down to the ground, the setting sun caused the stalks to cast long shadows. They would walk slowly through the field, talking.

On one of these walks something strange happened.

The sun was about to set, when Dorothy saw a large crow flying toward her. It flew up and down erratically, and harshly cawing.

The bird was pursued by Jim, one of the neighbor's kids, who was trying to hit it with the rocks he threw.

With its last strength, the bird flew to Dorothy and collapsed at her feet. The girl picked up the tired crow, and then yelled at Jim: "Go away, you horrible boy!"

"Give me the crow," he demanded. "It's my prey. You see how well I hit its wing?"

"Go away if you don't want to get what's coming to you."

Jim returned to his house, kicking rocks and mumbling curses under his breath, deciding not to mess with Dorothy and Charley.

"Poor bird," exclaimed Dorothy, holding the crow in her hands. "You're hurt."

While cradling the bird, Dorothy felt something on her right foot. When she looked at it, she saw a leaf tied on with a string.

She unwrapped the string and unfurled the leaf. What she saw startled her.

"Uncle Charley, there is something on the leaf," the girl cried.

The two stared at the leaf, and in the light of the setting sun, saw a strange picture etched on it: a pair of heads, one with a wide hat with a pointed top, round face, and round eyes, while the other had a pointed nose, and a hat and a smooth head.

"Uncle Charley, these are… the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman," exclaimed a surprised Dorothy.

Upon closer inspection, the two noticed vertical and horizontal lines going through the figures, like a grid.

"What does this mean, Uncle Charley?" asked the girl.

"It appears like your friends are behind bars and are asking for help," answered the experienced sailor.

"Craw, craw, craw," the bird squawked, and it sounded like: "Yes, yes, yes."

"If this bird could talk, I'm sure it could tell us plenty of interesting things," Charley noticed.

But birds don't talk in Kansas, and Dorothy didn't find out for a long time what happened with the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman, and why it happened.


	13. Chapter 13

THROUGH THE DESERT

That night in the Henry's house there was no sleep. Dorothy begged her guardians to let her go to the Land of Oz accompanying Charley, who like adventures, and wanted to see the Land of Oz for himself.

Convincing the two was difficult, but in the end, Dorothy's tears and Charley's silver tongue won.

After the two farmers were convinced to let Dorothy go, preparations were made. The two went to the neighboring village, to visit to Oz, who opened up a shop after giving up his job as a balloonist.

The former "magician" greeted Dorothy and Uncle Charley, after learning that he was her Uncle. Dorothy then discussed the purpose of her visit, and showed him the leaf.

Oz studied the leaf for a few minutes then said: "This was probably Scarecrow's plan. And who gave him the brains to do it? Me! So you see, I'm not such a bad wizard after all."  
"So will you go with us to help Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman?" asked Dorothy.

After some thinking, Oz replied: "No thank you. I am tired of all witches and wizards, and other magical things."

After they walked out, Charley told his niece that they would still have no use for a coward like that, and she nodded her head in agreement.

One early morning, the group headed north west, in the direction that the wind took Dorothy's house. They walked there, spending the nights in a tent that Charley made.

Soon they encountered the outskirts of the Great Desert. Water became scarcer, and patches of grass were rarely encountered. The days were hot, and the nights cold.

Eventually they came across the last few shrubs and small trees , and entered the main part of the desert, an endless sea of sand. Going by foot here was useless, so Charley made a four wheeled cart for them out of some of the trees. The tent fabric was used as a sail.

"This desert reminds me of the sea…" whispered the sailor.

Dorothy looked at the desert with wide eyes. The girl had crossed it before, but she was unconscious in her storm-suspended house.

The only thing that was now required was a good wind, as the land ship wasn't as maneuverable as a sea ship. All the equipment, except the one for camping, was stored on the flanks of the ship.

Soon they had an incoming wind. The cart started to roll across the sandy terrain, with the wind picking up sand and flinging it into the travelers' eyes. In response, Charley pulled out a two pairs of goggles and put them on, then gave Dorothy the second pair. That helped them see where they were going, but they still could not talk: the sand would rush into their mouths if they did.

The cart drove on through the sand, its wide wheels not distributing the weight enough for them to not sink into the sand. Charley rotated the sail left and right in order to avoid going up the occasional sand dunes. About half a day later, the trio saw the outlines of the mountains that surrounded the Land of Oz.

"If the wind doesn't die down, we should be by the foothill tomorrow."

But the wind didn't die down, and the sailor was having a good time.

But he soon became worried: the ship started to get off course, heading off into the north. Charley did not understand what was happening. The wind didn't change, the steering mechanism was working fine, but Charley still couldn't hold it on course towards the mountains.

A giant rock the size of a cottage appeared behind a dune. It stood in the way of the ship's course, and Charley tried in vain to turn the wheel, hit the brakes, and even to take down the sail. The cart, like a maddened horse kept on charging towards the rock.

The captain yelled: "Dorothy, hold on to something!" and the ship crashed into the rock.

Dorothy's hands were knocked of the mast, and she fell, bumping her head against the floor. Toto whined and fell off.

Getting up to his feet, Charley examined the ship. It was tilted to the side, like an actual ship in a shipwreck.

"Sigh… I can't turn a wheel properly," Charley scolded himself. "But what happened with the ship? It's like the rock was attracting it, like a magnet to iron…"

Charley, cursing to himself, started to search the ship for any material to salvage. Meanwhile, Dorothy started to circle the rock, searching for a place to hide from the wind.

The girls soon encountered some cracks. When she looked closer, the cracks appeared to form words. When she went backed a little farther, she managed to make out "WI K D WI CH F TH EST"

"Uncle Charley! Come over here! There is something for you to see!" cried Dorothy.

"What is it?" asked Charley, coming over.

"If you look at the cracks here… They appear to be spelling out "Wicked Witch of the West."

"Hmm… You are right. So that explains why the ship was attracted to this rock. It appears to be enchanted."

He then pulled out a spy glass, climbed onto the rock and looked to the right. A frown appeared on his face.

After looking to the left, he climbed down and said: "It appears that these rocks are positioned strategically in such a way so that nothing can get in without being pulled into one."

He then made a tent out of some broken pieces of wood and the ship's sail, and went back to work, taking as many supplies as possible, and making a wheelbarrow to transport them in. When he was done, it was already night, so the group went to sleep.


	14. Chapter 14

IN THE GRASP OF THE BLACK ROCK

When Charley was finished constructing the wheelbarrow and getting all getting all the necessary supplies, it was dark, and the only things visible were the moon, stars, and outlines of objects. The sailor was not able to sleep as peacefully as usual, thinking about the curse on the rock.

In the morning, Dorothy woke him up for breakfast.

"Well, since the ship likes this rock so much, let's leave it here, and go by foot," Charley said during breakfast.

"We are abandoning the ship?" Dorothy asked.

"We have to. But there is only about 20 to 30 miles until we reach the mountains. We should be them in about a day or two. I also made a wheelbarrow to transport the supplies. It should be enough."

Taking one last look at the ship, the travelers started marching away from the black rock. The first 100 steps were normal, but then some unseen force started to pull them back.

Each step required more effort. It seemed as if an invisible rope was pulling them backwards to the rock. Finally, after another 100 steps, they fell to the ground, exhausted.

After attempting to crawl forward, Charley said: "Well, let's go back; there is nothing productive to do here."

Once they turned back to the rock, things became much easier. Their feet required barely any effort to move forward, and ran to the rock so fast that they were barely able to stop to avoid running into it.

"Well, looks like the rock won't be letting us go any time soon. But let's keep trying. We may be able to overpower the enchantment."

For the entire day they kept on trying. No matter what they tried, running, crawling, jumping, they always had the same results: they would start to tire about 100 steps worth from the rock, and not be able to go any farther at 200. By lunch and dinner, the food rations were halved.

"The longer we wait here, the higher the chance that something good will happen," said Charley before going to sleep, trying to be optimistic.

The next day they tried to escape again with no results. When they were walking back, Dorothy noticed the behavior of the crow, who was banging against the bars as if trying to say: "Let me go!"

` "Uncle Charley, maybe we should let the crow go; why should she suffer with us?" suggested Dorothy.

"That crow got us into this mess, and you want her to just fly away," the sailor grumbled.

"Uncle Charley, don't pretend to be so mean."

Opening the cage and letting the bird go, Charley told it: "Fly away, bird, unless the rock traps you as well."

The crow sat on Dorothy's shoulder and crowed into her ear. After that, she flew up and disappeared into the distance.

"How come she can get away so effortlessly, but we cannot?" wondered Charley.

After thinking for a few seconds Dorothy answered: "She is a natural inhabitant of the land of Oz. Why should the rock stop her?"

The food and water supplies were being consumed quickly. The dessert heat caused an intense need for water. Charley tried to limit the daily portions, but that changed little, since he ended up giving into the girl's and dog's pleas and gave them extra.

In doing that, he neglected his own food and water, growing thinner and weaker from dehydration.


	15. Chapter 15

THE RESCUE

On the seventh day the water supplies ran out. At lunch there was not a single drop of water. Dorothy and Toto fell unconscious from the heat and dehydration, but the sailor still managed to stay awake. After rubbing his eyes for the tenth or so time to stay awake, he thought he noticed a black spot in the sky. But what could move in this dry, lifeless desert? Still, the spot grew, approaching.

"It's the crow! The crow is returning!" realized Charley

What they would get from this he did not know, but his intuition told him that the crow was not returning without help. When it was closer, he noticed that it flew unevenly, as if carrying something. When it was close enough, he saw that in the bird's beak was a giant branch of grapes.

"Grapes!" cried Charley. "Dorothy wake up, we have something to drink."

But Dorothy just lay there, not hearing or moving.

The crow landed near on the wheelbarrow with the now exhausted provisions. Charley grabbed the grapes, picked off a handful, put them near Dorothy's mouth one by one, and squeezed. The cold juice managed to awake her and she mumbled: "I thought we didn't have any more water."

"We don't, but thanks to the crow, we have these grapes!" answered Charley.

Eating a few more grapes, Dorothy sat up and noticed Toto lying on the ground next to her, and gave him some of the grapes as well, waking him up.

Convinced that his crew was well, he ate a couple for himself, temporarily satisfying his thirst.

"These are the best grapes I ever had! Even better than the ones in Kuru-Kus!"

The sailor stroked the crow's head.

"Good job my dear. Sorry for being such a grouch. I was just angry that you flew away, and thought that you were abandoning us. If you could tell us how to escape from the rock, I would call you the wisest bird in the world."

Instead of answering, the bird pecked a grape and stared at the sailor.

She's pointing at the grapes, Charley thought. But what are they going to do besides lengthen our stay?

She then started hopping away from the rock, and motioned him to follow with a wing.

Charley stood up and followed her. And for some reason, he felt like it took little effort to move, as if he wasn't starving for the past few days.

"This is the most amazing thing I have seen I have seen! Let's see if it will help us…"

Even after taking 200 steps, he still continued to walk as normally as before, without interference.

"Hooray!" he yelled. "Dorothy, come here! We are saved!"

Dorothy came to him without much thought, and only when she got there did she realize what happened.

"Uncle, let's get out of here, quickly!" she said.

"You are right. Who knows how much longer this effect is going to last."

Quickly rushing back to the rock, Charley took all the most vital instruments, the tent, and the grapes, putting them in a sack, and rushing off, abandoning the wheelbarrow and the empty barrels of water. The company then marched off towards the mountains.

They walked until they could no longer see the rock, and stopped, ate some grapes, and continued walking. When the sun set and they went to sleep, they crossed half the distance, but used up there grapes.

In the morning they noticed that the crow was absent. But the bird returned soon with a new branch.

"I never thought I would have such a strange supplier," commented Charley.


	16. Chapter 16

VALLEY OF THE GRAPES

The valley that the group encountered after crossing the first mountain was a welcoming sight: in the middle was a stream that began in the mountains and was filled with fish, the beaches had plenty of vegetation, including trees with plenty of fruits. They first went to the stream to take a drink, then set camp on the grass. Then an amazing thing happened:

"Kaggi-Karr!" crowed the bird.

"We heard that already!" replied Toto.

"You heard it but you did not understand," answered the bird. "That is my name. Allow me to introduce myself: Kaggi-Karr, friend and advisor to Scarecrow the Wise, ruler of Emerald City."

"Oh, sorry. Very nice to meet you. My name is Toto."

Charley, sitting on the grass and observing, was stunned. Dorothy was laughing at his surprise.

"Uncle Charley, why are you surprised?" she asked. "I told you that animals can speak in the Land of Oz!"

"Other people's stories are not the same as personal experience," he answered. "Well, this is proof that we are in the Land of Oz. Kaggi-Karr, since you can now talk, can you explain what that leaf letter was supposed to mean?"

"Yes, please, tell us its secrets!" exclaimed Dorothy.

"Well, it late, and my story is long, so I'll tell it tomorrow," answered the crow. "But to prevent any worrying, Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman are fine. They are just imprisoned in a tower…"

"Just imprisoned in a tower!?" exclaimed Dorothy. "You don't really care for them, don't you?"

Kaggi-Karr was silent for a few moments, and then replied: "Yes I don't care. I just left them there, didn't take any letters, didn't fly into some unknown land…"

"Sorry, my dear Kaggi-Karr," apologized Dorothy with shame. "I just spoke out before I thought things through."

"Fine, just think before you speak next time, alright?" the crow responded. "Anyway, you did not let me say the most important part: their captor has threatened to destroy them if they do not follow him…"

"Then why are we just sitting around here? We need to hurry!"

"You did not let me finish again! They have six months, and its been less than half."

"Well, we still need to hurry," added Charley, signaling that the conversation was over. "Right now we need to eat something filling and rest. Is there any fish in this river?"

"Yes, there is," answered the crow. "I personally like mine raw."

"I like mine fried," added Dorothy.

"I like mine boiled," added Toto.

Charley started making a fishing rod. He got a hook and some sting out of his pockets, and made the rod and bobber out of reeds.

"I need some bait," he said.

In the trees were bright colored beetles with red and gold spots. They were difficult to capture: Dorothy and Charley were incapable of getting any due to their unpredictable flight pattern. Kaggi-Karr, after watching them hopelessly chase the bugs for some time, decided to help. Using her beak, she knocked them done so fast, Dorothy was having trouble picking them all up.

Near the camp, the river entered a pond. Charley instructed Dorothy to gather wood for a fire, while he was fishing. It did not take long for the bobber to start to be tugged around. Charley pulled at the rod, and out came a fish similar in size and shape to a catfish, but with a different set of colors.

"We call that fish the crox," explained Kaggi-Karr.

After catching three more croxes, Charley went back to the camp where Dorothy already arranged wood for a bonfire, which Charley lit with a match.

After being fried, the crox were eaten with an appetite, with the grapes for dessert.

After the meal, Dorothy asked: "Kaggi-Karr, where did you get those grapes anyway?"

"You people are hard time figuring things out," stated the crow. "When you were trapped, I was very disappointed that you would not let me out of the cage, until Dorothy figured out that I, a natural inhabitant, would not be stopped by the rock…

"I figured that out after you flew away," corrected Dorothy. "I just didn't like to see you in a cage."

"Well thank you. After being freed, I flew to the mountains, thinking how to help you. Then I thought about the Witch of the North. If she was able to radically change the nature of the Witch of the West's hurricane, she should be able to counter the rock's magic, since the Witch of the West was dead. So I flew to the North, and made my way to the castle with the help of the local birds. After hearing my story, she told me about the grapes. She then picked me up, and we appeared in this valley, only near the mountain, with plenty of grape vines. She gave me one of them, I ate a couple to give me some strength, thanked her, and flew off. You know the rest."

Stunned at her story, the listeners did not respond for some time. Finally, Charley commented:

"You are a great friend, Kaggi-Karr, and I am deeply sorry for thinking badly about you. If this happened on my ship, I would have made my second in command."


	17. Chapter 17

THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS

Kaggi-Karr told the group about how Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman were captured. Since she did not know about Urfin's past, she just said that he was a powerful wizard who would be very difficult to defeat.

Scarecrow's and the Tin Woodman's bravery inspired Dorothy, and impressed Charley, who said he would take them to any dangerous situation.

"And that is how things happened," finished Kaggi-Karr.

"And what happened to the Guardian of the Gates and the Soldier?" asked Dorothy.

"I did not see them after they were captured. But I heard from one of the birds, that they are being held in one of the castle's dungeons. Apparently, Urfin is trying to convince them to join him."

"That is not going to happen!" Dorothy exclaimed.

"I don't think it will work as well," the crow agreed.

"This Urfin Jus and his wooden soldiers are a serious opponent," murmured the sailor.

"Will we be able to defeat him?" asked Dorothy.

"Let's deal with our problems one at a time," answered Charley. "First we go over the mountains, and then we think about how to overcome him."

"Kaggi-Karr, how did you find me?" asked Dorothy.

"Well, it was hard," began the crow. "I flew through the desert with the help of the wind, and then came the hard part. I couldn't ask the first person I met: 'Where is Kansas?' of course. I eavesdropped on people's conversations, and you could imagine the joy I felt when I heard the term 'Kansas' in one of the conversations. So I flew where he pointed, and each day heard it more and more often. Finally, I saw you, Dorothy, recognizing you from the day you took Scarecrow of the field. But then that boy with the rocks came…"

"You did an amazing thing, Kaggi-Karr," Dorothy complimented. "No wonder you were sent by Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman.

"Maybe," agreed the crow. "Now you three can rest, and I will go look for a way through the mountains."  
She flew off to the east. Charley told Dorothy to rest, while he got ready for the hike.

He left some of the grapes to dry in the sun to make raisins, for ease of transport, caught and cooked several croxes to eat and take with them. Then, he started to work on the shoes, beating in nails so that they would not slide on the ice. For Toto, he made little sandals out of tree bark to prevent frostbite.

All of this took Charley the entire day. Kaggi-Karr returned in the late afternoon: "Now I see why nobody crosses these mountains. I was not able to find any route through them. Well, tomorrow I will check what is west of the camp."

The travelers slept under the sound of the waterfall that night.

Dorothy dreamed of Urin's soldiers marching along the yellow brick road all night long.

The next day, the crow flew off into the west.

While exploring the valley, Charley managed to find several wild pumpkins that had the forms of a pear. He was overjoyed with this discovery, and took several of them. Then, he cut them open on the top, scooped out their insides, and dried them. The end result were excellent water containers, light and durable, which he filled with water and put in his sack.

Kaggi-Karr returned early in the afternoon that day, looking high and proud.

"I found it!" she yelled, even while flying towards the camp. "I managed to outsmart the mountains!"  
While eating a crox, she explained:  
"The path is not the best, but it can be navigated. It also passes through one of the shorter mountains, not the main, tall ones. I suggest that we go at sunrise tomorrow, and rest today, because the path is long and hard."

Charley did not have any equipment for mountain climbing: no hooks for clinging to mountains, no rope stairs for climbing. But that was not needed. With the help of the crow, they avoided all the hard climbs, the avalanches, the deep ravines. In the dangerous places, they tied a rope around each other's waists, so that if one of them slipped, they would not fall very far.

About halfway across, they ran into an unexpected obstacle: a giant chasm in the ground, similar to the ones on the yellow brick road. It could not be jumped across by Dorothy, much less the one legged Charley.

Kaggi-Karr was the most disappointed from this since it was her fault: flying around the mountains, the chasm looked like just a tiny string from that distance. What to do?  
"I will go search for an alternate route," said the bird and flew off.

She returned half an hour later, disappointed: "I searched the surrounding area. The cliffs here are too steep to climb."

Dorothy said with a sad smile: "Scarecrow would say this: 'Here is a deep hole across which we cannot jump. Deep holes are crossed using bridges. Therefore, we must build a bridge.' But there aren't any materials to use for a bridge."

"You forget that I have my tools. We can use them," Charley replied.

Pulling out several pieces of rope, Charley tied the ends onto the rope, so that it resembled a lasso, and started throwing it across the chasm, trying to get it on one of the outcroppings. When he succeeded, he pulled to make sure it was on, and tied the other end to the outcropping on his side. Then he repeated the process. After some time, he had a web of the rope, crisscrossing the chasm.

"Uncle Charley, only a robin can pass on those ropes," noticed Dorothy.

"That's is just the foundation of the bridge, the bridge itself is yet to be made," Charley replied.

Charley got out the tent, and spread it out over the ropes, in order to make it look more solid and so it would not be hard to look down.

Charley crawled across the bridge to show how it was done, and told Dorothy to try doing it next, explaining that they had to crawl so that their body weight would be distributed across a greater area. When they were done, Charley put the tent away, and, with the help of the crow, untied the ropes and put them back.

Soon saw that they were nearing the end of the mountains. There was more wildlife; the mountains were not as steep and high, and trees were starting to appear.

The next morning they got to the foot of the mountain. In front of them was Blue Land.

Dorothy recognized it at first sight. The lush, green meadows, the short trees with their multicolored fruits and birds. In the rivers were silver scaled fish.

The scene was familiar to Dorothy and Toto, but Charley, never seeing it before, was in total awe. He had visited many countries, but none matched what was in front of him.

And like last time, little men in blue outfits appeared. Dorothy recognized them as the Munchkins, with their round hats with bells attached.

The Munchkins smiled to Dorothy, and put down their hats, so that the bells would not interfere with the conversation, and the oldest one said: "We welcome you to our land, Witch of the House! We are glad that you visit us again! How did you fly here this time?"

"I crossed the desert and mountains by foot, and I am very glad to see you again!" Dorothy replied.

One of the Munchkins asked: "Do witches really travel by foot?"

"But I told you already, I am just a girl," replied Dorothy, smiling.

The oldest Munchkin disagreed: "Girls don't fly here in houses and land on evil witches. Girls don't fly away to 'Kanas' on silver shoes."

"I see that you are familiar with my adventures," said a surprised Dorothy. "Alright, since I can't convince you,, since I can't convince you all, you can call me a witch. And this is my Uncle, Charley."

The Munchkins bowed to him, somewhat scared. In comparison to them, Charley looked like a giant, despite being average size for a human.

Charley now understood why they were called Munchkins. Their jaws constantly moved up and down, as if chewing something. Soon however, he got used to it.

"How do you do, my friends?" asked Dorothy.

"Very badly," they said, and started to cry.

"You freed us from the Wicked With, but now she has been replaced by the wizard Urfin Jus," explained the oldest Munchkin. "He made a dead bear skin come to life as well as an army of wooden soldiers. He overthrew our chosen leader, Prem Cocus, and conquered Emerald City."

"But if he is far away from you, what is the problem?" asked Dorothy.

"Urfin sent us his subordinate, Kaber Gvin, with a squad of soldiers. He is very spoiled and greedy, marching around with his soldiers and taking anything he likes."

"I know him," said Kaggi-Karr. "He was one of the traitors that went to serve Urfin. Before that, I think he was a store owner."

"Be careful that he does not learn of your presence, or he will most likely tell Urfin about it," warned the old Munchkin. "Also, why did you come here?"

"To liberate the Land of Oz from Urfin and his soldiers," answered Dorothy.

The munchkins mood improved greatly.

The foot of the mountain did not have any houses, so Kaber and the soldiers did not visit it that is where Charley set up the tent. The munchkins never saw a tent before, and were surprised when a little house appeared. After that, they left them and went to their houses.

The next day they returned with provisions, most of which Charley gave back. The Munchkin elder told them that the news of their return has spread all over the country, but no traitor gave that information to Kaber Gvin.

After the Munchkins went home, the group started to think about what to do. They decided that they currently could not make the journey to Emerald City. But they could get a valuable ally: The Cowardly Lion.

Living in his isolated forest, the Cowardly Lion most likely did not know what had happened to his friends. The group decided that Kaggi-Karr would deliver tell him about what happened, and lead him to Blue Land. With the help of Cowardly Lion, the journey would be safer and easier. She was told to tell the message only to the Cowardly Lion, and no one else, which she promised to do.


	18. Chapter 18

MISSION FAILED

The crow managed to get to the forest, where the Cowardly Lion lived, without an incident. Hearing the news about Scarecow and the Tin Woodman saddened him greatly, but Dorothy's arrival remedied that. Leaving the Hungry Tiger in charge, he began his journey towards Blue Land. Since Kaggi-Karr went faster than he did, she decided to stop by Emerald City for some time.

Her first stop was the tower where the Tin Woodman and Scarecrow were held. Her presence cheered them up greatly: they though she was dead and were preparing for the worst. And then Kaggi-Karr acted foolishly: she told them about Dorothy arriving in The Land of O. She was incapable of not bragging to them about her success in not only getting the help of Dorothy, but also her Uncle Charley, an experienced traveler.

The two almost choked the crow with their hugs, and only after that did she realize her mistake. To at least compensate a little, she made the two promise to not reveal the secret to anyone else, so that they would be the only ones to know.

Scarecrow proudly answered: "My wise brains know what a secret is, and how to keep it. By the way, the Tin Woodman taught me how to divide and multiply, which prevents boredom, and should be useful when I become the king again."

The crow congratulated Scarecrow, and flew off to Emerald City. The city had a dreary look: all the emeralds from the gates and walls were carved out; even in the streets, where they were not even emeralds, but pieces of glass, they were taken for the royal treasury. In the parks, the fountains did not work, and the vegetation was dead.

On the palace walls, instead of Din Geor with his whiskers and beard stood a yellow soldier with a 1 on his chest and paint that was old and starting to come off.

Kaggi-Karr went to the royal kitchen for some food: she was expecting the old chef to be there. She was correct: Baluol was still there, since he was doing an acceptable job and Urfin had a shortage of willing manpower. He gladly accepted his old acquaintance and gave her the leftovers from lunch and told her of what happened in the last month.

The citizens of Emerald City now had much harder lives, due to higher taxes and curfew laws to prevent uprisings, as well as imprisonment for speaking out against him in public, usually a year in labor camps. But he also said that Urfin did not receive much joy from his power: when he served food to the dictator, he noticed how removed Urfin was from the conversation at the table, not talking to anyone.

After eating, the crow thanked Baluol and flew off. This time, she did not tell him about her success. She flew off and explored the city, eavesdropping on the conversations in people's houses, and was convinced that the people would gladly rebel against Urfin.

She also found out that by putting Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman into the tower, Urfin was expecting everyone to be in awe from his power and mercy. Instead, the citizens viewed it as a sign of tyranny, and the two prisoners became heroes.

When Kaggi-Karr went to deliver the news about the peoples' opinions to the prisoners, she made another mistake. When Scarecrow heard about how people respected them, he became very proud of himself, which overwhelmed his common sense. Seeing a crowd of people below he stuck his head out of the window and told them to get more people for his speech.

The news about it quickly spread. Soon a giant crowd appeared near the tower, which the oakhead guards did not care about, since their only orders were to not let anyone in or out of the tower.

Scarecrow started speaking: about how the citizens should not surrender to the conquerors, about how Urfin was a terrible leader, and when the Tin Woodman tried to pull him away, about how Dorothy arrived in the Land of Oz.

The oakheads did not have the context to understand what that meant, and even if they did, they would not have disobeyed orders to deliver the message. Unfortunately, Ruf Belan, hearing eavesdropping on the rumor, heard the entire thing. He sped off to Urfin the moment the speech ended.

Appearing to Urfin, Belan informed him about Scarecrow's 'rebellious rant', in which he declared that Dorothy has appeared in the Land of Oz, the one who killed both wicked witches.

Urfin's face paled, but he calmly ordered:

"Scarecrow is to be locked up in the dungeon for three days, and Dorothy is to be captured and brought to Emerald City."

After the oakheads guards received new orders to get rid of the crowd, which they completed by using their clubs, Kaggi-Karr scolded Scarecrow: "Your wise brains definitely know how to keep secrets!"

Scarecrow had nothing to say to that. But Kaggi-Karr did not press on, knowing it was her fault. Now they had to think about how to get out of their position. But at that moment, heavy footsteps came from the stairs: the oakheads were coming for Scarecrow. The first two oakheads that appeared at the door tumbled downstairs, pushed down by the Tin Woodman. Reinforcements were called for, and soon, the entire stairway was flooded with soldiers, so that they could not be pushed back. They overwhelmed the Tin Woodman, and tied his hands behind his back, and Scarecrow was taken to the dungeons and hung on a nail.

When the soldiers left, Kaggi-Karr used her beak to break the rope, so that the Tin Woodman would not have to sit in the tower with his hands tied, and flew back to Blue Land.


	19. Chapter 19

THE COWARDLY LION

After three weeks of waiting, the group heard a roar in the foothill: it was the Cowardly Lion coming to Dorothy. The girl ran up to meet him, hugging him around the neck. The lion then lay down on the grass to rest, and meowed like a giant kitten.

"Dorothy, Dorothy," he kept on saying. "How glad I am, that you are here! I even forgot that I rubbed my paws raw on the way here."

Dorothy looked at his paws and saw that they were in terrible condition.

"We will help them heal," replied Dorothy. "Come, Uncle Charley will give you first aid."

The sailor politely greeted the lion, who started thinking him as a friend.

Toto ran up to them at that point, chasing after birds.

When he saw Cowardy Lion, Toto came up to him and shook his paw. The lion then pretended that he was going to eat him, like when they first met. Toto first pretended to be scared, then started running around the lion, trying to catch his tail.

After they stopped playing, Dorothy asked: "Where is Kaggi-Karr? Isn't she with you?"

"No, I travelled alone," he answered. "Delivering the message, she said that she had to go to Emerald City."

Charley shook his head: "What is she going to do there? It is not going to end well…"

"Why are you so pessimistic?" asked Dorothy. "She is a smart bird."

"She is just as much of a boaster," replied Charley.

Charley washed the dirt and blood off the lion's paws and bandaged them with tree bark. Cowardly Lion thanked him and lay down on the grass. Dorothy sat down next to him.

"Did anything happen on the way here? asked Dorothy.

"I had one minor and major problem on the way here," answered the lion. "The minor problem was the Big River, but that was nothing compared to those Kalidahs in the forest. Even though the Wizard of Oz gave me that drink and I don't fear them, what would have been the point for me to die in battle while you waited for me here? So I tried to go through the forest undetected. I quietly crawled in the bushes near the yellow brick road. And then I heard a heavy breathing to my right. When I looked there, I saw two gleaming eyes. And at that moment, to my left, a the crunching of leaves sounded. I panicked, and, forgetting about my damaged paws, jumped higher into the air than any other lion before. At that moment, both Kalidahs jumped at me, missing me by a few centimeters, and colliding into each other. Then they started fighting, probably because they accused each other of letting their prey escape. The chasm was just a few hundred meters away from me, so I sprinted to it. There was a tree trunk serving as a bridge that I crossed, and I continued running until the forest was out of my sight."

Kaggi-Karr came on the next day. Charley understood that something happened from her embarrassed look, and asked: "What happened!?"

She told them about what happened in Emerald City. When they found out about Urfin finding out about Dorothy's arrival, the general mood dropped. Seeing Dorothy's saddened face, she quickly apologized: "Yes, I acted stupidly! I very sorry about it. I will get you to Emerald City so that they will not see you coming!"

Charley and Dorothy remembered how she saved them in the desert, and forgave their foolish friend.

She then told them about everything that she heard from the people of Emerald City.


	20. Chapter 20

FREEING THE MUNCHKINS

Cowardly Lion was lying on the grass, while Charley was gathering his instruments. Then, out of his pockets, a flat, round box fell out near Dorothy who accidently stepped on it. Out came a yellow tape and, with a hissing sound, leapt at the lion.

The Lion leapt out of the way, and tried to hide himself in the grass.

"What is going on?" asked Dorothy.

"There is a snake…" mumbled Cowardly Lion, staring at the now unmoving tape.

Dorothy started laughing: "That is just Uncle's measuring tape. It's a steel tape with marks that used for measuring length."

"So it is not alive?"

"Of course not!"

Dorothy went out to pick it up and hand it back to Charley.

A week past, and the Cowardly Lion's paws were healed. They could now travel to Emerald City. But nobody wanted to leave the Munchkins under the ruler ship of Kaber Gvin. Charley also said that it was unwise to have enemies behind you, since they can attack you from the back.

The main problem was that Charley could not fight them all at once, only one at a time. But how could they take them out one by one, if they all walked in a group?

After some brainstorming and talking with the Munchkins, they came up with a way to separate the squad, one that relied on Charley's abilities to use a lasso.

In the afternoon, when the sun was beginning to set, in the house of Prem Cocus, where Kaber Gvin was residing, a Munchkin appeared and asked for a private meeting."

"My lord," he began, quietly. "I hope that no one hears of the secret that I am about to tell you…"

"No one will," Gvin replied. "What is it?"

"I found out that one rich merchant has a sack of gold hidden in his house."

Kaber Gvin's eyes started gleaming and he asked: "Where does he live?"

"My lord, the informant gets a tenth of the prize…"

"You will receive it. Take us to the house the next day."

"My lord, this night, he plans to bury it in the forest, where no one can find it…"

"Then we will go right now!"

They then went out in this fashion: the informant in front, after him was the Blue Squad, and Kaber Gvin in the back.  
After walking for half an hour, they can to a narrow path, where the oakheads could only walk one by one. The path led to a river, across which was a log, serving as a bridge. Beyond the river, the path had a sharp turn to the right, into a forest. The Corporal let the informant go first, who ran across the wet bridge quickly, while the Corporal clumsily tried to follow. When he made it across, he wanted to call out to the Munchkin, but at that moment, a lasso sprung out and caught him. The Corporal was then pulled into the woods, falling forward, and a group of hatless Munchkins sprung, tied him up, and took him away.

By the time the next soldier appeared, Charley had a new lasso in his hands. The process repeated until Kaber Gvin no longer had any defenders. When he finally made it across, he was confronted by Charley, and pulled out a knife.

"You have lost," Charley said coldly, looking down on him. "Drop the knife or you will be cut."

Kaber Gvin yelled: "Oakheads! Help!

"Your soldiers are captured."

Seeing that he resisting was futile, Kaber Gvin surrendered.

The next day, in the house of Prem Cocus, who was restored to power, was the trial of Kaber Gvin. A small minority wanted to execute him, while the others were split between life imprisonment or mining ore in the mountains.

After about an hour of debating, Charley gave his thoughts:

"Why don't we just send him to his King in Emerald City?"

Kaber Gvin paled and started protesting: "By myself through the Kalidah forest? Just send me to the ore mines! I swear I will work hard!"

One of the Munchkins answered: "But we are letting you go!"

"To be eaten by the Kalidahs? I want the ore mines!"

Eventually it was agreed to send him to the mines. The soldiers were put into Prem's basement, until it was decided what to do with them.

After that, the friends made their way to Emerald City by the Yellow brick road, escorted by a pair of Munchkins who volunteered to help them carry supplies.


	21. Chapter 21

CROSSING THE KALIDAH FOREST

The Munchkins escorted the group to the border. When the last of the farms were gone and there was only the forest, they set down the supplies, bowed, and gloomily said: "Goodbye. Don't be angry that we are not going with you. It's just that it is so dark, scary, and lonely in there…"

"Goodbye my dear friends," Dorothy said. "And cheer up! You are free, hopefully, forever!"

"True, true, we forgot about that…" they remembered, cheering up greatly in a mood swing.

When the Munchkins disappeared from view, the group continued. After several minutes, a small house appeared near the road.

"It's the Tin Woodman's house!" Dorothy exclaimed. "We stayed here with Scarecrow, and the next morning met the Tin Woodman, who was standing like a statue. Remember Toto?"

"I remember," Toto said. "I almost broke a tooth when I bit his leg."

It was late afternoon by that time, and the group decided to spend the night in the house. The house was too small for the all, so Charley had to sleep on the floor.

The next day, Lion explained: "Soon we will reach my home forest in which I met Dorothy. It has great soil to sleep on under the great big trees near a great pond, in which the frogs have the loudest voices in the Land of Oz."

"If everything is so great, why did you move to another forest?" asked Toto.

"Political responsibility," Cowardly Lion answered. "I was elected King there."

After two days, they reached the chasm which marked the beginning of the Kalidah forest. Farther ahead, they could hear growling, and everyone became nervous.

Charley then said: "Time to prepare to cross the Kalidah forest."

"How?" asked Dorothy. "Do you have something that will get us across safely?"

"We have the tent," he answered.

"How is that going to help?"

Charley got out the tents fabric and some paint. He then drew a monstrous head on it. It had a pair of beady, angry yellow eyes, a huge mouth full of fangs that were sticking out, with a beard of spikes and curved horns… When he was finished he set it down to dry. When it finished drying, he drew the same thing on the back. He tied two branches on each side so it could be carried.

The rest of the group became nervous. Cowardly Lion flinched when it rose, Toto ran behind him, and Kaggi-Karr squinted.

"And that's not all," Charley said smugly.

The sun began to set. And suddenly, the drawing began to glow. The darker it became, the stronger the light poured from it. It seemed as if sparks came from the eyes and flame from the mouth, which then surrounded its face.

"What is that?" asked Dorothy from behind the sailor.

"The paint has phosphorus in it, which glows in the dark," answered Charley.

Dorothy calmed down, but the rest of the group didn't understand it, and the face continued to be mysterious and frightening to them.

"I think that should be enough to scare away the Kalidahs," stated Charley. He then gave a wooden horn to Dorothy, and told her to blow in it as hard as possible when they went into the forest.

They then entered the forest. Charley was in front, holding one and blowing his horn, Lion, Kaggi-Karr, and Toto in the middle, and Dorothy in the back, blowing her horn and holding the other one. The horns howled like a wolf, laughed like a hyena, and made other voices of predators. This was accompanied by the Cowardly Lion's roar and Kaggi-Karr's crowing, and the Demonic face which was shining brightly in the darkness, held up in a way so that it looked to the right and to the left.

The group made so much noise and the painting was so horrible, that the Kalidahs, waiting near the road for prey, ran away into the forest.

About three fourths of the way, they encountered some broken pieces of wood looking suspiciously like arms and legs. Other than that, the journey was eventless, and by morning they were out of the forest and could see the river. There, they decided to stop for the night.


	22. Chapter 22

NEW TROUBLES

The group slept for a long time, and only woke up near midday. The next step was to cross the river. Since Lion weighed more than everyone else combined, they had him stay on one side of the raft while they all stood on the other, with some extra rocks to even the weight.

While Charley built the raft, Dorothy looked around, recognizing the place.

Below she saw poppy field that could have made her sleep forever, smiling at the memory of the mice tugging Cowardly Lion out of the field.

'I wonder if the whistle still works?' thought Dorothy.

The journey across the river was uneventful, and occurred after lunch. They then had to decide when to advance, by night or day. In the end, the decided to wait for the night, since even though the oakheads' vision was almost as good at night, there would be less people around, and also to avoid any large roads. While everyone else was preparing, Kaggi-Karr scouted the region. She returned tired, but satisfied, saying that she did not encounter any oakheads, and they could go on without any worries.

Charley however, said that the guard would most likely be sent out at night, so when the party moved out, they had Lion and Toto, since they could see well in the dark, and had a good sense of smell.

Cowardly Lion crawled forward without a sound, while Toto sniffed the air around him.

At first the group did not have any trouble. Kaggi-Karr sat on Charley's shoulder, and started to fall asleep. Dorothy then carried her, but started falling asleep as well, leaning on Charley's shoulder.

This continued for several miles, and then Lion stopped, and Toto raised his nose higher into the air.

"I can smell wood and paint," he stated.

Dorothy became alert, and hid behind her uncle's back.

Toto crept forward to see how many soldiers were there. If it was one or two, they could take them, if there were more, they needed another path. He returned in a minute.

"There are two soldiers," he said. "And some other thing that looks similar to them. His legs are long and bent back, he has hands that look like spiders, his eyes are green, and he has giant ears. I'm sure he can hear better than a cat. When I crept up, he instantly turned in my direction, and I retreated when he looked away."

"That's an enforcer. They're used to police the populace and scouting," Kaggi-Karr informed them.

"Then we have a problem," said Charley. "We can take on the soldiers, but the enforcer will run away and alert the city."

Luckily, they managed to find a tall, large growth of bushes and vines, which unfortunately had thorns. After making their way through them, Charley cut an area large enough for tent, and the group slept under the watch of Cowardly Lion.


	23. Chapter 23

THE CAVES

The next day Kaggi-Karr flew off to scout the area. When she returned at midday: she reported: "We won't be able to move any further. There is an enforcer on every street."

"So we won't be able to rescue our friends?" asked Dorothy.

Kaggi-Karr replied: "When I was young, I heard from my grandfather that there is an underground passage that leads to the tower. I also heard that it was abandoned because it housed monsters…"

"I am only afraid of the enforces," stated Dorothy. "Besides, if we scared off the Kalidahs, I'm sure that we can take on some underground creature."

"And how do we find the beginning of the tunnel?" asked Charley.

"Dorothy can summon the Queen of Field Mice," replied the crow. "Mice are small and are virtually everywhere: I'm sure some have been in the underground."

"What if the whistle doesn't work?" asked Dorothy.

"You won't know if you don't try!" answered Toto.

Dorothy blew into the whistle three times.

Multiple small footfalls were heard in the grass, and the Queen of Field Mice appeared in front of Dorothy on a small throne.  
The whistle's magical properties were revived when it entered the Land of Oz. And Toto ounce again leapt into the crowd of mice with a bark, but Dorothy restrained him in time.

The Queen of Field Mice said: "Good Day, dear fairy. I see that small black creature still does not enjoy the presence of my subjects."

"Your Highness!" exclaimed Dorothy. "I am sorry for disturbing you… Your Highness, somewhere in this area is an entrance to an underground passage that leads to the tower near the city walls where our friends are kept. Can you help us find it?"

"That will probably be far easier that getting a lion out of a poppy field," she answered.

She clapped her frontal paws and several mice ran up to her.

"Gather all of my subjects that live here!" she ordered.

The mice ran off, and soon, a hoard of various mice gathered around the group: small, large, young, adult. There was even an old mouse brought in on a small bed who was lying down paws up in the air.

After hearing the Queen's orders, the mice ran off in all directions, leaving only the old mouse.

"Rest old lady," the Queen told her. "You worked well in your youth."

"Yes, I did," agreed the aged mouse. "All those big chunks of cheese eaten… All those cats fooled… All those other mice saved and put back into their dens…"

She then fell asleep.  
"You are correctly decided to use the underground passage," said the Queen. "But there are dangers I should warn you about."

"The monsters?" predicted Dorothy.

"I don't know about any monsters," replied the Queen. "But that path also leads to the Country of the OreMiners."

"Are they dangerous?" asked Dorothy.

"It's hard to explain… They don't harm anyone, but they do not tolerate someone getting in their way. Even if they are simply observing. If you encounter them, be careful, don't do anything that may anger them, and get out of there as quickly as possible."

"Why are they called the OreMiners?"

"They mine ore and smelt in into metals. They also have plenty of valuable minerals, like gems."

"They have an Emerald City too?"

"No, they trade the metals and gems to people up here for food and other necessities. Oz bought his gems from them when he built Emerald City."

"So they sometimes go onto the surface?"

"Their eyes are not suited for bright lights, so the trade occurs at night. So, yes, they do go onto the surface."

Dorothy wanted to ask the Queen more about the lives of the OarMiners, but the mice that were sent to find the entrance started to arrive. When all of them were there, it turned out that none of them found any signs of an underground tunnel.

"I am ashamed of you, mice!" the Queen shouted. "Do I have to do this myself to get it done right?"

"No, no!' the mice squeaked. "We'll get back to searching and find that entrance…"

"Wait," croaked the old mouse. "When I was young, I saw a hole in a cliff, about 15,000 steps to the west from here. Is that what you are looking for?"

"Yes probably!" Dorothy cried out in excitement. "Thank you!"

"If it is not what you were looking for, call me again and I will be willing to help," said the Queen of Field Mice and ran off.

All of the mice vanished, which saddened Toto, who still wanted to leap into the crowd.

He then went off to scout the area, and when it was determined that there were no dangers, the company set off.

When they walked about 15,000 mouse steps, to their estimate, a cliff was found. In it, the group found an opening which reeked of decay.

"This is probably what we are looking for!" exclaimed Dorothy.

"I don't like the smell that's coming from it," Toto complained.

Cowardly Lion started digging, clearing the path with his paws. Meanwhile, Charley chopped down a young tree to make twenty torches.

The group walked into the opening. Lion was first, Kaggi Karr sat on his shoulder, Dorothy, with Toto in her arms, came second, In the back was Charley, holding up an ignited torch. It appeared that no one had gone into this tunnel for several years: everything was covered in moss, large puddles collected in the multiple ruts on the path. The air continued to get thicker as they went down.

The path became steeper and steeper as they went down, first becoming more like a stairs, and then, a ladder.

The narrow suddenly became a huge, wide cave, the end of which could not be seen.

"It's so empty and dark," whispered Dorothy as she came closer to Lion.

The crow flew forward to explore.

Charley lit a second torch and gave it to Dorothy. He then walked forward, feeling the ground with a walking stick.

The travelers walked about a thousand steps, when Kaggi-Karr hurried back to them, warning:

"There is a monster ahead!"

The light of the torch showed how a huge, strange creature was approaching. It had a fat, round body covered in thick fur, with six legs that ended with long claws. Its head was round as well, with a mouth filled with a large amount of short, sharp teeth. The strangest part about the creature was its huge, milky white eyes, in which the company members were reflected. It appeared that since the creature was used to the dark of the caves, the sudden light blinded it and forced it to navigate on smell and hearing. The group smelled strange to it, making it feel threatened, causing it to emit a low growl. Lion responded with a loud roar that echoed across the cave.

"Let me through!" he growled. "I'll deal with that thing!"

He jumped forward and hit the beast in the side with all his strength, intending to topple it over. But the beast was very stable on its six fat legs, and continued standing. Lion rolled out of the way, just as the monster's jaws hit the place that his shoulder was occupying a moment before.

Lion understood that he was dealing with a dangerous opponent, and changed tactics. He started circling his opponent, trying to get behind him, but was unsuccessful, since the creature always had its head to him.

Charley got out a lasso to help Lion, giving his torch to Dorothy and commanding: "Make sure I can see him!"

Dorothy pushed aside her fear once an important task was given to her, and started to think only about how to provide enough light and make sure that the torches did not go out.

Charley swung the rope, catching the animal by the neck. He pulled as hard as possible, but the creature was not affected, and Charley had to get out of the way as one of the paws swept toward him, dropping the rope in the process.

Kaggi-Karr started to help out: she flew to the thing's head and started pecking as hard as possible. That caused the beast to forget about Lion and try to free its head from the small but nasty enemy.

Using the opening, Lion jumped on its back, and started to tear at it with his claws. But the skin of the creature was too sturdy, and only lumps of fur were coming off.

Agitated that an enemy was on it back, the creature rolled, and Lion had to jump off to not get crushed by its weight. The monster got on its feet, breathing heavily. The creature seemed invincible, and trying to walk around it would be dangerous: it would most likely pursue.

However, Dorothy, seeing that the creature was only focused on Lion and had its back to her, ran up to it and hit it with a torch. Its fur started to burn, the creature let out a roar of pain, and started to run, knocking Lion over in the process. The creature soon disappeared in the darkness of the caves, sped on by blind pain, and the group continued forward. The sailor picked up his lasso, which fell of the creature when it rolled: it could be useful in the future.


	24. Chapter 24

CITY OF THE OARMINERS

The travelers hurried to leave the battle scene. The large spacious cave soon turned into a narrow, steep corridor.

Charley worried that they would run into another one of the six legged creatures: fighting it would be impossible inside of the corridor. But Kaggi-Karr calmly flew forward and Toto did not give out bark in alarm.

The corridor widened into a wide round platform.

"I'm tired," complained Dorothy. "Let's rest here."

Lion lay down on the floor and Dorothy sat on his back. She started to fall asleep, but Toto started growling.

Toto growled rarely in the Land of Oz, preferring to use human speech, but when he did, it meant that something dangerous was near.

Dorothy jumped up.

"What's wrong, Toto?"

He was standing next to a wall, which had an opening about three feet above the floor. Toto, head pointing at the opening, was growling, his fur standing straight up. Dorothy did not see him so angry in her life.

Dorothy crept up to the opening and cautiously looked through it. She was met with a spectacular sight: an entire city was sprawled out. It was as if she was looking down on it from a mountain. She began to get dizzy, and felt like she was falling, so she jumped away with a shriek.

"Uncle Charley!" she called. "The city of the Oarminers in down there!"

"What?" He stood up, walked to the opening, observed what was inside, and opened his mouth in astonishment: "Turns out the mice were not mistaken."

Charley got out binoculars and started observing the city and the surrounding country-side.

"That's incredible!" Charley cried.

The sailor and the girl took turns looking into the binoculars, seeing newer and newer sights.

The colossal opening was 10 miles long and several miles wide. It was difficult to determine how deep it was. At the top of the stone ceiling, light hazy clouds drifted, and seemed to emit a yellow light.

The scene was beautiful, but also somewhat sad, like the end of the late fall, when all of the trees have lost their leaves and the sun is covered by gray clouds. There was no green in the area: only the gray of stone buildings and the empty, whole filled country-side around it

The group's attention shifted to a lak, which probably served as a reservoir. It was surrounded by a large wall. On one of the banks, lay a city. In the center of the city, a large castle rose up, its roofs colored in all the colors of the rainbow, a sharp contrast to all of gray around it.

"I see a factory near the wall," noticed Charley. "And there is a large wheel in the lake, which seems to be the power source for the machines. But how do they move the wheel? Here, Dorothy, do you see anything?"

The girl observed the wheel, and started to laugh.

"Uncle Charley… They have… one of those creatures… in it! Its running in the wheel like a hamster!"

The sailor grabbed the binoculars, and started laughing as well.

"That's clever… He keeps on running up the steps to get away from the water, but gets caught every time! I wonder what they feed it…"

"Fish, perhaps?" suggested Dorothy.

They started to guess on how such a beast was tamed, while observing the country side, which seemed to be filled with oar veins.

But the rest of the group wanted to see, so they took turns. Lion was unaffected by the sight, Toto simply continued growling, and Kaggi-Karr wanted to fly down to explore the city. But then she saw a strange, black, moving spot in the sky and wisely decided to not do it.

When Dorothy decided to observe the sky on her turn, she cried out in horror. Even without the binoculars she could see that a large, monstrous creature was flying at them.

Its head and body resembled a lizard with bird like claws and beak, its yellow, plate sized eyes focusing on them. On its back was a man in red clothes with a war look on him, his eyes focusing on Dorothy. Dorothy remembered that the Queen of Field Mice said that the Oarminers did not like people observing their way of life.

The man drew out a bow and an arrow.

"Get out of the way!" Dorothy yelled as she tackled Charley to the ground.

A second later, an arrow flew over their heads and hit the stone wall. Toto brought it to them in his mouth. The tip was still sharp, despite hitting the stone.

"These Oarminers are serious," said Charley. "If they decide to go onto the surface, it would be difficult for the Munchkins and Winkies. But let's stop wasting time and move on."

"But Uncle Charley, we haven't seen everything," Dorothy protested. "Besides, the Oarminer has left…"

"Left? We'll see…"

He put his hat on his walking stick and lifted it up. The hat was taken off by an arrow

"See? Let's leave before they decide to come after us."

The group ran as fast as possible from the area. After a few minutes, they resumed walking and started talking about what they saw.

"This is a 'Land of Wonders' indeed," commented Charley. "And its wonders are endless."

After about a hundred or so steps, the group arrived near a large, locked door.


	25. Chapter 25

MEETING WITH SCARECROW AND TIN WOODMAN

"If this is the entrance to the tower, then all of the problems we had to face were worth it," Charley said to himself.

"Chop down the door," Dorothy suggested.

"If I do that, the guards will hear it," Charley objected.

Above them, they could here several foot stomps.

Charley got to work. He drilled several holes so they formed a rectangle, expanded the holes with his knife, stuck a saw into it, and started sawing. In about a half hour, an entrance large enough for a man was made.

"Dorothy," said the sailor. "Quietly go up the stairs and tell Scarecrow and Tin Woodman to come down here _quietly_, and so the guards won't see them."

"But what about Din Geor and Faramant?" asked the girl. "Urfin will most likely take his anger out on them if Scarecrow and Tin Woodman escape."

"I didn't think about that. What do you suggest we do?"

"Scarecrow and Tin Woodman should wait here for a little longer, while we search for a way to get Din Geor and Faramant out of prison. But I have no idea how to do that… Maybe Scarecrow could help!"

"You are right. Even though I do not like going up stairs, we need to hold a council to decide how to proceed from here."

Dorothy slowly walked up the steep stairs, with Charley behind her, casting a shadow. Lion was left below: the hole was too small for him.

Soon, they arrived to the trapdoor that led to the prison. Dorothy slowly lifted it up, sticking her head out, but putting a finger to her lips: she was afraid that her friends would yell out in joy or surprise.

Her fears did not come to pass: Tin Woodman had good self-control and Scarecrow was damaged by his imprisonment in the dungeon: the moisture caused the paint to come partially off, making it difficult for him to hear, see, and speak.

They started walking toward her when they saw her, but stopped when they saw Charley. They were still intimidated by him, even though they heard about him from Kaggi-Karr's stories.

Charley greeted his new acquaintances in a friendly manner. In response, they both took off their hats and bowed.

Kaggi-Karr was beaming in pride: after all, she was the one who made this happen, and she doubted that anyone else could have done it better.

After e introductions and greetings were made, Dorothy broached the subject of Din Geor and Faramant: "If you leave now, they will be at the mercy of Urfin Jus."

"If they come to harm, my heart will break," Tin Woodman stated.

He started crying, and the tears caused his jaw to start rusting. Scarecrow tried to oil it, but hit him in the ear. But he soon corrected his mistake, and Tin Woodman suggested: "Scarecrow, use your brains to come up with a solution."

"Unfortunately, my brains have not been working very well," Scarecrow whispered. "They must have gotten damaged from the moisture…"

"Their cell has a window with iron bars that leads to the rest of the castle," Kaggi-Karr pointed out.

"That's excellent news!" exclaimed Charley. "I have a saw that can cut through them! Now we need to figure out how to get it to them…"

He then pulled out a steel saw.

"If only my brains were still at an optimal working condition…" Scarecrow mumbled to himself.

"Don't worry, we can think for you for now," Dorothy told him.

The room became silent. How to get to the dungeon if the door at the base of the tower was guarded by soldiers and the underground passage was home to the six legged creatures?

"I can get the saw to them," volunteered Kaggi-Karr. "Bars and soldiers can't stop me!"

Her suggestion seemed reasonable, but there was a problem: the saw was too heavy for her to lift with either her claws or her beak. Everyone began to think again.

Suddenly, Dorothy lifted her hand, drawing attention.

"I have an idea!" Dorothy stated, and everyone came over to listen. "Uncle Charley, lower me down with a rope from the window."

"Are you insane?" he asked, shocked. "Do you want to get captured by the soldiers?"

"Of course not," she replied. "They only guard the side with the door, and ignore the other one. See for yourself!"

"But why you?" he asked. "Can't someone else do it?"

"Who else is there? You are too tall, and Scarecrow and Tin Woodman are easily recognized!"

Dorothy had a dress in her pack that was given to her by Prem Cocus's wife. Dorothy was about the size of an average woman in the Land of Oz, so the dress fit one her. It was green, since Cocus's wife was originally from Emerald City.

Dorothy put on the dress. She then rubbed son dirt on her face to appear more like a farmer.

"Do you have an excuse to enter the city?" asked Charley.

"Yes," she replied. "I am going to say that I am going in to sell some berries."

Charley tied the rope to Dorothy's waste. She put the saw into her basket, and tried to squeeze through the bars. They were too close together however, so Charley had to cut one of them off, hoping that no one noticed before they could escape. He then slowly lowered Dorothy down to the ground.

She then waved him goodbye and calmly walked off towards the main road.

Charley anxiously observed her until she reached the yellow brick road.

Dorothy did not go into the city at once. Instead, she went into an orchard and filled her basket with berries.

Next, she calmly walked up to the city gates. The basket full of berries, which was supposedly for sale, served as an excuse for entering the city.

Dorothy walked down the street that once was filled with green glass which looked like emeralds. Now, it was bland and uninteresting.

She entered the castle using the excuse that the berries were for the kitchens. The head chef did not recognize her at first, but was very excited when he did.

Dorothy sat in the supply closet until night came. The chef then led her to the door of the cell. Luckily, the door had a window with bars, and Dorothy proceeded to wake them up.

The two were very glad to know that Dorothy was in the Land of Oz and brought them a steel saw. After receiving the saw, the two got to work, with Din Geor standing on Faramant's s back, and in ten minutes, a hole large enough for someone to go through appeared in the barred window that faced the rest of the city.

The first to climb out was Din Geor. but how was Faramant supposed to reach the opening? The cell did not have any chairs or tables…

"We don't have any rope…" Din Geor whispered to himself.

"No rope!" Faramant repeated teasingly. "What about your beard?"

"How did I forget about it?" Din Geor asked himself.

He lowered his long beard to the ground, and Faramant grabbed it and pulled himself up. Din Geor scowled under the pressure but held. When they both got out they hugged their savior.

The cook led the group out of the castle through the back door in the gardens, and they were in the streets. They were incapable of leaving the normal way since the gates were guarded by soldiers, so they had to climb on the walls.

When they reached the farms, Faramant had a conversation with one of the farmers, who sent his fastest sons to the north east.

The meeting was to be held at the cliff where the entrance to the underground passage was, so that is where Dorothy led the two. When they were passing by the tower, she cried out "hoo" like an owl three times and waved her basket: that was the signal that everything went as planned and that they could leave the tower. A cuckoo bird's cry answered her: the signal was received and understood.

Dorothy, Din Geor, and Faramant arrived first, luckily avoiding any oakheads.

The next evening, Ruf Belan found out that the prisoners escaped and sent out some policemen to investigate the farms to see if they could find out about anything. He found out that the fugitives were heading north east: apparently, they were trying to find shelter with the Good Witch of the North

Two squads of soldiers and thirty policemen were sent there. The soldiers lagged behind the policemen, occasionally tripping on each other. The policemen ran forward as fast as possible with the Chief of Police in front, shooting rocks at any bush or tree that moved even slightly.

Every now and then, they encountered a house, which the Chief questioned about the escapees. The pre-warned people answered:

"They passed her a few hours ago…"

"Three hours ago…"

"Two hours ago…"

The pursuers got excited, sensing that their prey was near. But they ran mile after mile, and the road in front of them was just as empty as ever.

Finally the policemen snapped, and started blindly sending rocks in front of them, forming a cloud of projectiles.

Then the Chief sped forward, and his subordinates mistook him for one of the fugitives. He was buried under a pile of rocks and bricks, which broke all of his limbs and his head.

They ran up to the body, and stopped. What to do now? They did not know, and there was not anyone to command them.

Gathering the remains of their late commander, the group retuned to the capital. One of the policemen informed Ruf Belan about what happened, who paled. He was hoping that the escapees would be captured, and the incident would escape Urfin's notice. Now he would have to inform the king that his most important prisoners escaped, and that the Chief of Police, one of Urfin's most valuable minions, was a casualty.

After listening to the report, Urfin said:

"I don't doubt that this is due to the intervention of that fairy Dorothy. So you do not know the location of the prisoners?"

"No, Urfin the First, the powerf…"

"Shorter."

"The worst is that we were led down a wrong path. This was well planned."

Urfin decided to not reconstruct the Chief, and the remains were used for firewood.

Assured that Dorothy had done her job, Charley led the other prisoners out of the tower. Tin Woodman had trouble getting through the hole, and Scarecrow acquired some new tears when he crawled through. Lion met the friends with glee and excitement. The group hurried down the tunnel.

As they approached the area with the hole that led to the City of the Oarminers, Charley got increasingly paranoid. He feared that an ambush was set up, or the archer was waiting to send an arrow into them. However, when they arrived to it, the hole was sealed shut by cement. Not even a crack could be seen on it.

They did not find the strange six-legged creature: it was either nursing its wounds, or the Oarminers captured it.

But how many other creatures could be found in the caves?

But Charley did not worry about it: he was confident that Lion and Tin Woodman could take them on. He only feared that the Oarminers could have set up an ambush further down the road. He only calmed down when they got into the open and met up with Dorothy and the escapees.

Before they started planning for the future, Scarecrow received some repairs. Dorothy stitched up the holes in his clothing and body, and replaced his old straw with fresh straw from one of the farms and sewed the hole back up.

She then began to paint his face back on. When she painted back one of his eyes, it started blinking.

"Stop that!" Dorothy protested. "You will ruin it!"

"So wh…t?" Scarecrow whispered. "Mo…th p...ease!"

When Dorothy painted Scarecrow's mouth back on, he started singing: "I'm with Dorothy again! I'm with Dorothy ag…"

He then remembered that he was in the presence of his subjects, and nervously glanced at Din Geor and Faramant, who put on their best poker faces. Scarecrow sighed in relief.

Charley then gave Scarecrow a staff he made out of hardwood while Dorothy was repairing him.

Scarecrow thanked Charley for it and delivered a speech:

"My friends! I am Scarecrow the Wise again, and to prove it: here are my thoughts on what we should do. To fight Urfin, we need weapons, and the best blacksmiths are the Winkies. But the Winkies live in the Yellow country, not in Emerald City. And while we are in one country, we are not in another. So what is the conclusion? We need to go to the Yellow Land!"

"Politicians…" Charley murmured to himself while everyone else clapped.


	26. Chapter 26

_PART 3: VICTORY_

TO THE EAST

Enkin Fleyd, the governor of Yellow Land, was a fat man, with yellow hair that stuck out in all directions like a brush. He arrived into Yellow Land with the Yellow Squad and easily subjected it, since the Winkies had about as much fighting spirit as the Munchkins, despite being master craftsmen.

After taking over the castle, he ordered all of the servants to leave, except for the cook Fregoza. She made good food, and Flaeyd liked to eat.

Fled became obsessed with weapons after he took over. He could not walk past a weapon without wanting it, so he ordered all swords, axes, and knives (even kitchen knives) to be brought to him. He also did it to reduce the chance of a successful uprising.

The Winkies did not have any swords, but they managed to find a pair of ancient daggers of high quality. When Fleyd saw them, he ordered several expert blacksmiths to be brought to him.

"Where did you get them?" he asked.

"They are relics of the past, back when there was war," one of the blacksmiths answered.

"Can you make more of them?"

"We have done harder jobs, like repairing the Tin Woodman, he has a complex mechanism. But why do you need daggers? It is easier to cut with a normal knife."

"This is not up for discussion!" Fleyd yelled and stomped his feet, which caused the Winkies to flinch and wink faster. "I want five, no, ten of these daggers by next week! If you don't meet the deadline, then you will learn what it is like to mess with me!"

The blacksmiths had to abandon all of their other projects in order to fulfill Enkin's demands. Fley hung his new weapons in the halls and enjoyed looking at them. He then decided that more weapons would look better and more intimidating.

From that point on, the blacksmiths were working all day on Elkin's demands: knives, sword, sabers, pikes… The governor spent days with his growing collection, arranging this way, then that way… When he took a weapon into his hands, he struck poses and swung it around, pretending that he was fighting some mythical monster when in reality, he would be too scared to attack a goat and only felt safe with a squad of Oakheads.

Dorothy and her friends went East after the meeting. Their path often overlapped with what they went through when they were going to the Wicked Witch of the East. Now they marched to a new foe: Enkin Fleyd and his squad of Oakheads.

So far, their army only had two fighters: Tin Woodman and Cowardly Lion. However, both of them were worth several normal soldiers, due to the Tin Woodman's natural resistance to damage and Lion's bravery, size, and strength.

Tin Woodman listened to how his heart beat in his chest with every step, while Scarecrow mentally solved arithmetical problems that Dorothy gave him.

Finally, they came to the spot where Tin Woodman had stopped laying down the road to Emerald City several months ago. There lay the mallet that Tin Woodman had thrown down when he rushed to aid Scarecrow. Since nobody wanted it, and even if they did, would not be able to pick it up, the mallet lay in the same place that Tin Woodman dropped it.

Tin Woodman picked up the mallet and swung it around his head.

"Still as good as ever," he said to himself.

"The Oakheads should watch out," Scarecrow commented.


	27. Chapter 27

ULTIMATUM

Here, where the path to the Yellow Castle began, the army decided to halt to discuss plans for the military operations.

At first Kaggi-Karr wanted to send out a sparrow to scout the area, but then decided that he couldn't be trusted with such an important assignment.

"I'll go by myself," she said. "Let's see how many soldiers Urfin has sent here."

She started to fly off, but Din Geor stopped her.

"We need to throw him a challenge," he said, stroking his beard.

"It would be better it we attacked them with the element of surprise," Kaggi-Karr replied.

"Din Geor is right," Scarecrow interrupted. "It's better to call the enemy out of the castle, or he could fortify himself in there. Sieges are difficult, I know from experience."

"And what if Enkid Fleyd doesn't take the bait and leave the castle?" Charley asked.

"We'll write a letter that will get him to meet us," said Din Geor. "I know him; he has a very big ego."

The group composed and debated about the letter for a long time, with the final copy being written on a piece of paper that Charley had, and given to Kaggi-Karr to give to Enkin.

Meanwhile, Enkin Fleyd was admiring his weapon collection. He kept on rearranging it until Fregoza came in and said:

"My lord, a messenger has arrived, demanding your attention!"

"Let them in," he ordered and grabbed a dagger, just in case.

The doors opened and Kaggi-Karr proudly walked in. Enkin stifled his laughter.

"So, this is who 'demands' my attention?"  
"Excuse me," Kaggi-Karr answered sharply. "I am the messenger of Lieutenant Din Geor."

Hearing her formal tone made him slightly nervous and confused:

"But… sorry, what? Who is this Lieutenant Din Geor? The only army I know of is the mighty Urfin the First's army, and it is commanded by General Lan Pirot!"  
"Read this Ultimatum, and you will understand," she answered sharply, and flew up to him with the letter.

Enkin Fleyd unfolded the paper, and began to read, his face turning into an arrogant smile as he did. The paper said:

_ULTIMATUM_

_ We, the ruler of Emerald City, Scarecrow the Wise, and Lieutenant Din Geor of the Liberation Army, offer you, Enkin Fleyd, the Governer of Yellow Land under the so called King Urfin the First, to order your soldiers to stand down and surrender the Yellow Catle. In that case, your punishment for the betrayal of your country will be that you will build roads in Yellow Land for a period of ten years._

_ If you do not see this as a profitable offer, you can send out your soldiers to fight in the field. And though our army may only consist of one soldier, we are confident in victory due to the fact that we fight for our freedom from your self-proclaimed king, Urfin the First._

After reading the letter, Enkin spent the next several minutes laughing his head off:  
"An army! With only one soldier! One soldier and a bunch of officers! And they think they can defeat me! And they have the nerve to offer me to build roads! This is hilarious! Hey you, the messenger! Tell them that I am more than happy to fight them in open combat, defeat them, take them prisoner, and then force them to build roads!"

That's all Kaggi-Karr needed. She flew off, while Enkin called in the Yellow Corporal and told him to assemble the troops.

The Tin Woodman was waiting for the enemy on an open field a mile from the castle. He stood by himself, with a mallet by his side, and did not look very intimidating. Dorothy, Toto, Scarecrow, Din Geor, Faramant, and Charley were about a hundred meters behind him.

To the front and to the right of the Tin Woodman, the Lion was hiding behind a rock, ready to chase down anyone who tried to escape.

After half an hour since Kaggi-Karr returned, the Oakheads' marching was heard.

When the soldiers saw a lone soldier, they became excited. In front of them was the Yellow Corporal, and in the back, Enkin Fleyd, armed with a sword and a dgger.


	28. Chapter 28

ONE VS. ELEVEN

Fregoza had eavesdropped on the conversation between Kaggi-Karr and Enkin Fleyd, so the news that the Oakheads would fight against the Liberation Army spread quickly. So when Enkin Fleyd arrived on the field, its edges had multiple Winkies watching from behind the boulders, sadly gazing at their former ruler: the Tin Woodman.

Fleyd recognized Tin Woodman, and became nervous. He knew of his strength, but still expected victory, due to a numerical advantage and that Tin Woodman did not have his axe.

He ordered his soldiers to surround the Tin Woodman and beat him with their clubs, and stayed in the back to watch.

The battle started. The Oakheads' clubs beat Tin Woodmank, causing dents on his body. While the wounds were serious, they were not lethal. However, every hit from Woodman's mallet broke Oakheads apart into pieces. After ten swings, ten piles of wooden chunks remained, only useable for firewood.

However, the last soldier, before falling, managed to knock off the chest piece that the Wizard of Oz made when he gave Tin Woodman a heart. Tin Woodman was stunned, and it was possible to see his heart. Before he could recover, the Yellow Corporal, who had not joined the fight before that, snuck up to him and hit as hard as possible in the back with his club. Tin Woodman's heart flew out of his chest, and he fell with it. The Corporal continued to beat him, especially around the joints, until he was sure that his enemy would not be able to get back up, while letting out a victorious roar. Enkin Fleyd began to shout: "Yes that's it! Now get rid of Scarecrow and his Lieutenant! Get the girl! She's the one the King wants!"

Scarecrow, Charley, Din Geor, and Faramant got ready to fight. Lion ran out of his ambush spot, but was too far away to help. Kaggi-Karr landed on the Corporal's head and tried to stop him by pecking his head and trying to block his vision, but it didn't even slow him down.

Suddenly, from one of the bushes closest to the Corporal, a figure darted out and fell into his feet, causing him to trip. The Corporal fell down, but quickly got back onto his feet and was ready to bash the Winkie's head with his club. However, just as he was about to bring it down, a lasso grabbed onto it. Charley, Faramant, and Din Geor pulled as hard as possible on the lasso, causing the Corporal to fall. Out of the rocks, several dozen Winkies ran to the Corporal and piled onto him, tying his hands with the rope from the lasso. Another group ran up to Enkin Fleyd and confiscated his weapons, which he was not trying to use anyway.

Urfin's rule over Yellow Land was over.

The shivering Enkin Fleyd fell to his knees and said in a shaky voice: "Your ultimatum… sais… that if I surrender… ten years of making roads. I… surrender!"

"You're a double criminal!" Din Geor told him. "Your first crime was betraying your country by working for Urfin, and your second one was ordering the murder of unarmed people. I don't think ten years will compensate for your crimes. Take them away"

Meanwhile, Dorothy was crying near the remains of Tin Woodman. However, she didn't fall into depression, since she knew that the Winkies were able to repair him from greater injuries. She picked up his heart, gently blew off the sand from it, and put it into her pocket.

Charley came over and knelt by Tin Woodman.

"He fought like a hero. Is he gone for good?"

"No, we can fix him," one of the Winkies answered. "We have done it before. We should have him to optimal condition in about three days. That is, if all the parts are still there… If some of them are missing, then it will take longer."


	29. Chapter 29

THE TIN WOODMAN'S RETURN

Fregoza took care of Dorothy like a mother. She led her to a room with a large bathtub that was not used by the Wicked Witch of the East or the Tin Woodman, since both were afraid of water. While Dorothy was bathing, Fregoza stitched her clothes.

Toto, after being washed, was drinking milk from a plate, something he hadn't done since leaving Blue Land.

Dorothy told her about her adventures, while Fregoza wondered why the fairy that saved them from the Wicked Witch was like a little girl.

"You are a very friendly people," Dorothy once told her.

"Yes, we are friendly," Fregoza agreed. "The people who were kicked out of the castle by Fleyd were having houses built for them, but now they will probably return to castle."

The next few days were spent waiting for Tin Woodman to be rebuilt.

Soon the moment when Tin Woodman was fully repaired came. He was shining, since the Winkies polished his surface while repairing him. He was leaning on a new axe and with a new oil flask on his hip. Scarecrow was given a walking stick with a golden head. He didn't want to part with his walking stick made out of redwood that Charley gave him, so he tried to walk with both at the same time. After tripping several times, he decided to use alternate between each every day.

For Toto, the Winkies made a collar with gems. However, the best gift was for Dorothy. It was a copy of the silver shoes and the golden hat that she had a year ago. Of course, the items were not magically enchanted since the Winkies were not spell casters.

Dorothy was very pleased with the gifts and put them on right away.

The Munckins also gave gifts to their new associates: Din Geor got a golden comb for his beard and Faramant got a gold covered feather and yellow ink to write with. However, Charley asked for a wooden peg leg when he got a gold plated-one, since gold was too soft and heavy for him.

Scarecrow was happily jumping around Tin Woodman, shouting: "Hooray! Tin Woodman is with us again!"

He was not too afraid of his reputation, since the Winkies were not his subjects.

Dorothy had her hand on Tin Woodman.

After several days, Charley, Dorothy, the rest of the group, and several winkies met together to discuss what to do about Urfin's wooden army.

One of the winkies suggested using Fleyd's weapon collection, consisting of swords, daggers, and pikes.

"I think that they would be very useful in taking back Emerald City," agreed Din Geor.

"Swords and spears are useful against people," argued another. "What use is there in stabbing dead wood? What we need are axes and maces, to chop and break them apart."

Everyone agreed to use axes and maces.

Scarecrow added: "Fire burns in wood. The Oakheads are made of wood. Therefore, we can burn them!"

Everyone agreed to that as well. The winkies got to work designing a device that would throw fire. Charley suggested building a cannon, and went off with the winkies to show them how it would look, function, and be operated.


	30. Chapter 30

URFIN'S LAST SOLDIERS

While Din Geor and Charley were preparing the Winkies to retake Emerald City, people planned to rebel. Due to the constant patrols of the police and soldiers, the meeting were held in secluded areas, usually basements.

Urfin, after learning that Dorothy returned to the Land of Oz, began to make as many wooden soldiers as possible. Most of the work was done by other wooden soldiers that were not on duty, who were trained to make arms, legs, and torsos twenty four hours a day.

Urfin no longer worried about the exterior of his soldiers, and no longer bothered to paint clothes, just slapping on paint to distinguish between them and their squads.

Since the oakheads were not able to make the faces that Urfin wanted, he made them by himself, usually at night. About 3-4 soldiers were made each day, causing Urfin to lose a lot of sleep working on the faces. His instruments often fell out of his hands as he dozed off at work. His eyes sunk in and became perpetually red, he was plagued by headaches, and his fingernails were too long. He became frightening to look at, and his advisors got out of his way on the rare occasions that he left his throne room or workshop.

The number of soldiers was approaching two hundred when an unforeseen problem occurred.

In front of Urfin in his workshop was a line of ten new soldiers and their future corporal. He put his hand into the container with the magic powder, and felt dread. The container only had a thin layer of it left.

Terrified, Urfin poured the powder into his hand. There was only enough to animate one soldier, and this was the last container. He started frantically shaking it, hoping to get more. After that didn't work, he ran to the other containers, and tried to see if he could get anything from them, but there were only a few grains in each one.

There went his power of objects. While working to create new soldiers, he began to believe that his resources were infinite. Now it was time to pay for his mistakes.

Still, he decided to try to animate the ten soldiers and corporal: they would be his last edition to the army. He carefully divided the powder into 11 parts, and gave them to the soldiers. The powder went into the soldiers, and Urfin waited. After about ten minutes, the Oakheads began to move slightly. After another ten minutes, the Corporal, who got a little more powder than the others, tried to stand up, and failed. Urfin helped him, and he stood there, struggling to keep his balance.

After another fifteen minutes, the soldiers managed to stand up. Urfin put them into a line. They struggled to keep balance, grabbing each other to steady themselves.

It took them about thirty minutes to reach the door of the workshop. It probably would have taken them days to leave the castle. Urfin did not test this, and summoned a servant to throw his failure into a fire.


	31. Chapter 31

VICTORY

I was several weeks since the prisoners escaped. The police sent to Yellow Land returned with urgent news. After travelling in the night and eavesdropping on conversations, they discovered that several hundred Munchkins under the leadership of Scarecrow and Tin Woodman were going to attack Emerald City. They were developing some sort of weapon with someone named "Charley Bleck" and were training under Din Geor.

Urfin called in General Lan Pirot and Ruf Belan to decide what to do.

"I have decided to lead my army into battle," he stated. "Time to show them who the King of the Land of Oz is."

The Prime Minister became pale. He had questioned the scouts, and had to tell the king the information gathered.

"Urfin the First, the powerful ki…" he started.

"Without any titles!" an impatient Urfin commanded.

"The enemy is stronger than he appears, and we should fortify the city wals and prepare for a siege."

"Pathetic coward!" Lan Pirot yelled. "My army can destroy whatever enemy stands up to it!"

"Excellent!" Urfin praised. "Learn bravery from my general."

"But the scouts say that Din Geor is…"

"Silence! How are you addressing me? Where are the titles? Or am I not the king anymore?"

Completely embarrassed and kicked out of the conversation, Ruf Belan became quiet, and the decision to attack was made. The Oakheads were dusted off, their General gave them instructions on what they were going to do, and the army of 170 soldiers, 17 corporals, and 1 General in the front marched off. In the back was Urfin riding in his carriage that was pulled by Topotun.

The army stopped in a field in between Emerald City and Yellow Land. Urfin went to sleep in the carriage, while the army surrounded him and stood guard. By the next morning, Urfin began to have doubts about the battle, but they were already halfway there, and he didn't want to look bad.

The armies met in a field a few miles from where Urfin had slept. Urfin saw the enemy at breakfast: a large yellow wave advancing forward, with a one legged giant in the front, followed by Tin Woodman, Scarecrow, Dorothy, a small, black creature, and a lion. Next to the Munchkins were Din Geor and Faramant.

Urfin became anxious: their army was bigger, and the weapons were designed to smash wood apart. He suddenly wanted it all to be a dream, and wake up in his house with the garden and the view of the mountains…

"General, retreat!" he ordered. "We'll lock ourselves in Emerald City, where we can withstand a siege."

"Turn around!" Lan Pirot commanded, which was repeated by the corporals.

The army turned around, and Urfin Jus became pale. Behind them, a mob of green-clothed people armed with pitchforks, torches, clubs, and scythes was advancing. Their retreat was cut off.

The Winkies army stopped and split in half along the middle, and a giant, wooden cannon was rolled in front of them.

The Oakheads were still standing the entire time, waiting for orders. When Lan Pirot finished analyzing the situation and was about to give new orders, the canon went off. Burning straw, trash, and cotton fell on the Oakheads. The cannon was destroyed, but that one shot was enough. The Oakheads and their general panicked, since they were instructed to avoid fire at all costs.

The Winkies charged, and took out the Oakheads one by one, tackling them to the ground and tying them up.

Urfin Jus decided to run:

"Topotun, retreat!" he shouted. "We need to hide somewhere!"

However, Urfin was caught by the lasso, and was pulled out of the carriage. Topotun, seeing that he was surrounded, decided to surrender.

Charley walked up to Urfin:

"You could have done so many helpful things with that powder…"

The two masses intermingled, congratulating each other. When the people of Emerald City saw Scarecrow, they ran up and lifted him, shouting: "Hail the rightful ruler, Scarecrow the Wise!"

Scarecrow was holding his cane and proudly looking in all directions. He had his new costume that the Winkies made, with a green base and gold lining.

Tin Woodman was also warmly greeted. Everyone knew that he came to help Emerald City as soon as he was informed of the siege, and that he liberated Yellow Land. The crowd was admiring the way his body was shining due to the polish the Winkies gave it.

Dorothy, who was sitting on Lion, had a crowd of her own, mostly people wanting to see the mythical "fairy" that "killed" the Wicked Witches of the West and the East, as well as helping free the Munchkins and the Winkies from Urfin's control. Her Uncle had several people ask what a "sailor" and an "ocean" were.

Kaggi-Karr got the most praise, due to her giving Scarecrow the idea to get brains, as well as delivering the letter for help.

The talking, signing, and partying went on until nightfall, and the two parties went home. Tin Woodman decided to go to Emerald City, so that he could spend some more time with his friends before Dorothy went home.

The people of Emerald City camped in the field, and went back the next morning, carrying the tied up Oakheads to put away with the police. Urfin went by himself, without guards. He could have run away, but to where? The entire Land of Oz knew who he was, and hated him.


	32. Chapter 32

THE REINTRODUCTION OF THE GREEN GLASSES

Near the gates of Emerald City were a dozen or so people who were on their knees and had their hands tied. They were the traitors who joined Urfin, but decided to surrender when the army left and riots that the police couldn't handle broke out. However, Ruf Belan wasn't located there.

It was found out that Ruf Belan had left during the night. Some children who were playing by the river saw him go towards the tower were Tin Woodman and Scarecrow had been kept prisoner.

Charley, Tin Woodman, and Lion went to investigate. He was not found in the tower, but several pieces of clothing indicated that he ran into the underground passage, which he found out about while he was investigating how the prisoners escaped.

"I'll catch up to him," Tin Woodman stated, and went in.

He went the same way that he escaped from the tower. When he reached the cave, his vision, which was not very much affected by the darkness, spotted a pudgy figure a few hundred meters away, and ran after it, shouting: "Come back! You'll die in there!"

However, the fear stricken Ruf Belan took a turn, and was lost. Tin Woodman looked for him for several hours, but came back empty handed.

Guamoko also fled the city with Ruf Belan. He knew that the people thought he helped Urfin perform terrible sorceries, even though Urfin had not asked for his advice for the last month.

Guamoko did not follow Ruf Belan into the underground, but decided to go to the neighboring forest, where he settled down in a nest in a large oak tree and demanded that all of the other owls give him food, or he, an apprentice of the Wicked Witch of the West, would unleash natural disaster on them. They obeyed, and brought him some mice every day. When Guamokolatokint was in a good mood, he would tell them stories about his past with the Wicked Witch.

When the 3 friends returned to the gates after failing to find Ruf Belan, they were greeted by the city's craftsmen, who were putting emeralds back into the walls.

Faramant was qat the gates, with a green satchel.

"You must put on green glasses to enter!' he declared. "The Great and Powerful Oz decreed that the glasses should not be taken off at any circumstances. When he flew off, he warned that breaking the law will bring misfortune. The law was broken, and misfortune came!"

The group decided not to argue and put on the glasses.

Tin Woodman and his friends went down the street, which had the glass replaced, and the fountains were working.

The moat was full of water, and Din Geor was by the closed gates, combing his beard.

"Din Geor!" Tin Woodman shouted. "Open the gates!"

There was no answer. Din Geor was fully engrossed in combing his beard.

"Din Geor, open the gates!" they all shouted.

Din Geor did not hear anything. However, Kaggi-Karr, hearing the commotion, flew up to him and said: "Pay attention! Some friends are down there!"

Din Geor looked down:

"Sorry, it looks like I got distracted…"

Now that Urfin's army was defeated, and the city was safe, Din Geor went back to being oblivious.

The gates opened, and the party made their way to the throne room. The halls were filled with castle servants that did not defect to Urfin, and took great pride in it, expecting a reward.

In the throne room were Scarecrow, Dorothy, and Toto. Seeing the group, Scarecrow got off his throne and walked towards them.

Out in the yard, a feast was prepared, to celebrate Urfin's defeat.

Over the next few days, it was decided what to do with Urfin. Several people suggested imprisonment, execution, or working in the mines.

"Wouldn't it be easier to banish him?" asked Charley. "Everyone knows who he is, so he will always be reminded of what he did, and will have to fend for himself."

"I agree," Scarecrow said.

A few people decided to look good in front of their leader by agreeing, causing crowd mentality to take over and everyone else to agree to the punishment.

Urfin Jus left the city, and began walking away with Topotun and Eot Ling, the wooden clown he animated back when he was still a farmer.

It was then time to decide what to do with the Oakheads.

"Burn them!" Kaggi-Karr suggested.

Scarecrow put his hand to his forehead, and asked not to be interrupted. After a few minutes of thinking, he said:  
"Burning them would be inefficient and waste an opportunity. The oakheads can be used for labor, and since they are made out of wood, they would not tire or need food. It would be nice to give them brains, but their heads are already full."

"Alright, but how do we get them to stop being soldiers and become workers?" asked Charley.

"We could replace their hearts," Tin Woodman suggested.

"They don't have hearts," Scarecrow pointed out.

"Then I don't know what to do," Tin Woodman admitted.

Scarecrow once again began to think. This time, he thought for about 30 minutes, and needles began coming out of his head.

Finally he came to a conclusion:

"Since they don't have any brains or hearts, their personality is probably determined by their faces!" he exclaimed. "If we change their faces to be smiling and happy, they will behave differently."

The test subject for Scarecrow's hypothesis was Lan Pirot. He was taken to court.

"General, do you think that you are responsible for any actions you committed?" Scarecrow asked him.

"No," he replied. "I committed them due to my king's orders."

"And if we let you go, and give you soldiers, what would you do?'

"I would wage war and plunder: it's what I was made to do."

"Take him away!" Scarecrow ordered.

The General was led to the castle's workshop, where the city's best wood craftsmen were waiting. They worked for three hours, but no one left the clearing in front of the castle, since they wanted to see the results of the experiment.

Finally, a smiling wooden man walked out of the castle, and came up to Scarecrow.

"I was told that you wanted to see me," he said.

"Yes, I do," answered Scarecrow. "Do you know who you are?"

"Who am I? Yes, who am I? I have no idea…"

"You are Lan Pirot."

"Of course, how did I forget that?"

"And you are a dance instructor" Dorothy joked.

"Of course! Now, where did my students go? The first lesson is about to start!"

He then ran off to an empty field, and was followed by several children. Their parents followed to make sure they did not get into trouble.


	33. Chapter 33

EPILOGUE

All of the city's woodworkers were put to work changing the faces of the Oakheads. They worked all day on a government pay check. The work had to be done carefully, since mistakes could lead to problems in behavior and personality. However, 50 soldiers and their corporals were sent down the Yellow Brick Road to get rid of the Kalihads in order to make travel safer before being altered, in which they were successful.

Once they returned, Dorothy and Charley left, since the way to Blue Land was safe. Kaggi Karr decided to accompany them to Blue Land. Before they left, Scarecrow took an Emerald from his throne and gave it to Dorothy, telling her to give it to the "Giant from the Mountains" as a parting gift. Charley did not refuse and put it into a satchel.

Dorothy gave parting hugs to her Tin Woodman and Scarecrow, and stroking Lion's mane. Charley shook hands with all of them. They exited the city, and gave their glasses to the Guardian of the Gates, who put them into a special box.

"I will keep them there until you return," he said.

"You think we will return?" Dorothy asked.

"Who knows?"


End file.
